From the distance, it may seem like a gentle slope along the Oregon Trail, but stare closer at Windlass Hill, and you’ll find yet another Nebraska peak that is a towering natural monument of American history.

Just over 150 years ago, bison roamed about Windlass, and wagon trains risked the steep roll down this hill to carry religious pioneers and California-bound settlers into Wyoming and beyond. Then there were Sioux Indians, racing for cover after being ambushed in one of the U.S. Cavalry’s most notorious raids.

Nebraska’s many “mountain” summits are striking symbols to the hidden jewels of beauty nestled throughout this state. Visitors may expect little from this supposedly flat land, and that is why they miss so many of Nebraska’s high points. Technically, most are not true mountains, but there are peaks of interest all about this rich land. Some are hard to find, some don’t even have names, but for those who are curious and have adventure in their hearts, there is a hidden mountain range of beauty and wonder all around us.

Our fearless husband and wife photography and writing team of Steve and Bobbi Olson would dare to climb the highest mountain to get us the picture-perfect shots. Their spectacular photography with this story is part of a nearly decade-long odyssey with Nebraska’s peaks in a quest that intensified over the past two summers. This daredevil married couple got chased by both a tornado and a stormy bull, survived a real cliffhanger, and also found an elusive Needles Eye hidden in the haystack of Banner County.

The Olsons’ curiosity was piqued about Nebraska peaks after they photographed the highest spot in the state with the deceptive elevation of 5,429 feet above sea level for Panorama Point in Kimball County. This led them to the website Mountainzone.com, which listed 198 summits and peaks throughout the state, and before you could shout, “Yodel – Ay – EEE – Oooo!,” the Olsons had hit the road in search of higher ground.

Of course, they were already well aware of many of Nebraska’s highlights.

Steve found it ironic that the elevated plateau at Panorama Point pushed them over 5,400 feet as the highest spot in Nebraska. He noted the area’s small, rolling hills would be dwarfed by the dramatic landscape of the Wildcat Hills, with its western Panhandle slope offering such striking landmarks as Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff, and Courthouse and Jail rocks.

And Bobbi could prove that Nebraska wasn’t flat to out-of-state doubters by just bringing them outside the door of their home in Palmyra for a bike ride on Nebraska Highway 2 that could be a good tune-up for the Tour de France.

“Once you get off the Interstate, it becomes readily apparent that our state is almost more defined by its hills and summits,” Steve pointed out.

“Like many of Nebraska’s treasures, all you have to do is travel around the state to be amazed by the diversity of the landscape,” Bobbi added. “One of our greatest secrets is how many summits we have and how many dramatic landscapes await the traveler.”

Nebraska may not have the generic definition of mountains, with steep slopes ranging more than 2,000 feet above the ground, but our rising summits truly are uplifting. So, Steve and Bobbi got rolling, and soon, they were clicking. They captured a stunning picture in Sioux County at the Sugar Loaf Butte, rising like a master bakery creation in the Oglala National Grasslands.

“When the sky turns gray and the sun shines beneath the clouds, that is when Sugar Loaf lives up to its name and shines white like a large pile of refined sugar,” Steve said.

Dawes County tops the state with 24 summits, and near Fort Robinson, they found Saddle Rock, which often is not on maps and overlooked by the more famous Red Cloud Buttes. But the Olsons got their shot, catching its saddle rock image from the west with fog pouring over the summit. They hit the bull’s-eye. And he almost hit back.

“A longhorn bull decided it didn’t like Steve or his camera and chased him back to his truck,” Bobbi said. “This is where Steve learned to appreciate that bulls have unmarked territories, and if you step across the line, they will come after you.”

Steve also survived a real cliffhanger during a climb in Sioux County. They were near the Pants

Butte Summit and wanted to catch a peek at the peaks on the far side of Sowbelly Canyon. Suddenly, Steve started slippin’ and a slidin.’

“He almost slid off the cliff but was able to sit down,” Bobbi said. “The friction from his backside prevented him from sliding off a large cliff.”

But the most harrowing moment came out west again, while searching for peaks in Morrill County. That’s when Nebraska’s mountain explorers almost had to take a close-up of a tornado. They heard a weather warning of 100 mph straight-line winds hurling toward them from the southwest, and across the buttes, a tornado was spinning their way. Fast. With very few roads to choose from, Bobbi’s BlackBerry radar led the great escape.

“We had to drive as fast as we could toward the straight-line winds and quickly turn north over one back road that went over the buttes,” Steve said. “We made it just ahead of the winds and were able to cross the buttes just about a mile and a half behind the tornado. That was fun.”

The Olsons are armed with a GPS and a Gazetteer geographic guide, but sometimes modern technology can’t match directions from regular folks. Several years ago, they set out near Wyoming in Banner County to find the Needles Eye after it was described by Norfolk physical therapist Shelly Koehler, who remembered it as a child riding the school bus. But with just Harrisburg, an unincorporated town in the entire, isolated county, and no charts or maps of the Needle, it was a challenging journey. They shot the Needle after using the area’s top technology: locals pointing the way.

Their shot at Windlass Hill in Garden County gives a view to the past. On Sept. 2 and 3, in 1855, the Battle of Ash Hollow near Lewellen was fought, and the Windlass Hill looked down at the bloodshed. Six hundred soldiers attacked about 250 American Indians in retaliation for a battle near Fort Laramie, Wyoming. About 30 soldiers were killed in that first fight after they demanded the Sioux tribe return an already eaten cow that a farmer accused them of stealing. There were 86 Indians killed at Ash Hollow, and the Sioux people described it as a massacre.

The Olsons now have visited about 90 percent of the state’s top peaks, and one of their top views is the Rifle Sight Summit, which climbs to 4,393 feet above sea level in Scotts Bluff County.

“If you look from the north, it obviously looks like a rifle sight,” Steve said. “But from another angle, it does not.”

Bobbi adds a parting shot.

“I love that Nebraska’s peaks are standalone formations that you can often drive around and get views from different angles ... filled up with gorgeous clouds filling up an incredibly blue sky that goes on forever.”

And their happy trails will go on as well. They’ll battle sand and gravel roads that turn into speedskating rinks when a hard rain falls, and they’ll dodge bulls and tornadoes along the way.

They’ll be armed with Bobbi’s gadgets and Steve’s uncanny sense of direction in uncharted courses.

Wherever they go, when they return, Steve and Bobbi Olson are sure to bring us back many memorable pictures.