AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2018 • NEBRASKAland 47
cancer, prompting sale of the land and
the end of a partnership that spanned
five decades.
When Gary Schlichtemeier of
Alliance, who was the Commission's
wildlife manager in the northwest
district at that time, was looking
for someone to provide day-to-day
maintenance on the new property and
other wildlife management areas in the
Pine Ridge, he approached Lon. Little
did Lon know that he'd be there for
four decades upon taking the job.
Rim of the World
One way to experience the property's
opulence is to hike Rim of the World
Road, accessible near the property's
north entrance and surely named for
its grand views at the top. The road
was forged early in the 20th century
as a way for area residents to travel
between the top and bottom of the
ridge as an alternate to the road along
the creek, which often washed out after
heavy rains.
Lemmon said the road remained
open to vehicles when the Commission
assumed ownership of the property, but
was soon closed. Hunting traffic took
its toll during inclement weather and
too many visitors became stuck trying
to navigate the incline.
"We had a little grumbling. The
one I'll never forget was an older
gentleman," Lemmon said. "I stopped
at the No. 3 parking area up here and
he came right up out of his vehicle,
came right over and got in my basket.
'You expect us to walk up and hunt
this thing?' He really laid it on me.
And he said, 'That hill there takes the
first two eggs you eat for breakfast to
get up it.' That's been called the Two-
Egg Hill ever since."
Rim of the World remains a service
road, and an egg burner.
Wildlife Outpost
As an outpost of the Commission's
district headquarters in Alliance, the
Ponderosa has long served as a base for
A redheaded woodpecker flies from its
nest at Ponderosa WMA.
Fog hangs among buttes and ponderosa pine trees on a spring morning. The area features about 1,500 acres of green timber.
