The Gadabout Granny: Meandering Through Idaho

It took a lot longer to see everything I wanted to see in Idaho -- I thought maybe 3 days, but ended up taking almost 5 days. Idaho is rich in Oregon Trail sites, and some of them are quite wonderful. My first night was spent in Bear Lake State Park, just as you come into Idaho from Wyoming. It was a lovely campground, right on the lake, and my site backed up to the lake itself. It was fun watching the sun go down while sitting at my picnic table.

Up the next morning bright and early to see the museum in Montpelier. They were having a quilt show there! The museum was OK, but the quilts were fun to see. The road out of the valley was hilly (big, big hills) with trail sections clearly visible on them. It was pretty amazing!

Museum in Montpelier ID

You can see the trail coming down from just to the upper right of center.

Then it was on to Soda Springs, where there are springs coming out of the ground with carbonated water. The sign there said it was OK to drink, so I tried just a little sip. It was tasty, but I didn't drink much!

After lunch at the park, it was back on the road. I have been able, for the most part, to avoid Interstate highways, but in a few places, it's the only way to get there. The next stop was Pocatello, and a replica of Ft. Hall. It was raining cats and dogs, and the fort was closed for the season. Bummer. Onward....

American Falls was next on the list and now I was following the Snake River. As an aside, that's one of the fun things about this trip -- how the trail goes from one river to the next, sometimes without much of a break! Although at other times they have a long way to go to get to the next river. Not sure what they did then.

American Falls was fun to see -- there were very large fish jumping in the river, and near the falls, there was a gathering of birds. I'm not sure what they are, because I didn't bring my bird book, but they have pelican-like beaks. It will be interesting to look them up when I get home There were also a few snow geese there.

Birds at American Falls

The last stop of the day was my campsite for the night, Massacre Falls. Although there was not a lot of Indian hostility toward the emigrants, one of those instances took place near here. The campground is only reachable from the Interstate, but the way it is situated down the hill a ways, there isn't a lot of highway noise. I think I got the best site in the whole campground when it comes to view. It was amazing!!