Through Wyoming and Into Idaho

The most beautiful campsite I have stayed in on this trip was near Lander Wyoming. It's called Sinks Canyon State Park, and it was snowy and cold, but incredibly beautiful. One of my requirements for a campsite is that it be level.  It's really hard to sleep when you head is lower than your feet, or vice versa. I've ended up curled in a ball at the bottom of the bed at times, not fun!!

    Wyoming's segment of the Oregon Trail is varied -- some of it is mountainous, like the first part through Gurnsey, but then it kind of flattens out, although you are gaining elevation for the first half. It's just so gradual that you don't really noticed it (although if I were an ox pulling a wagon, I think I would notice it!!). 

     Gurnsey had the most impressive ruts so far. The wagons had to go over a section of limestone rock and they wore ruts in that rock that were up to 5 feet deep. I walked in those ruts, and tried to imagine what that must have been like. A day or two later, I was talking about those ruts to someone at a museum, and they remarked that not only did they have to go ove the ruts, somebody had to knock down the area between the ruts or the wagons would get high-centered.  That really made me think -- who might have done that, and for the whole length of those ruts (which isn't short -- probably more than 1/4 mile). What a massive job! 

     One of the major landmarks in this first half of Wyoming is a huge rock -- probably 150 to 200 feet high, and who knows how big around -- called Independence Rock. The pioneers tried to be here by the 4th of July, and if they were, they could be pretty sure that they would get through the rest of the trip before snows cut off the passes. Many of them climbed to the top and carved their names on the rock.  I didn't climb it but there were a few names I saw carved lower down. I can imagine celebrating Independence Day at Independence Rock! But the last half of the journey was yet to come, and this was the much harder half.  

     A little further on was South Pass -- the pass through the mountains that was gentle enough to make this journey possible. As passes go, it wasn't much.  Just a climb to the top of a gentle hill, then a huge vista ahead of you that seemed fairly gentle.  It wasn't though-- there were little valleys, and small gorges that just seemed to disappear in the distance. On the way down the pass, the road took me past creeks that tumbled down over rocks, making pools in some places. I could just imagine early trappers running trap lines along those creeks, and there were even a few beaver mounds in the middle of some of the pools. Sadly, there were no pullouts where I could stop to get a photo.   

     After South Pass, I decided to take one of the "shortcuts" -- the so-called Lander Road. This road was the only section of the trail that was improved by the Federal Government. They built the Lander Road to make the journey easier, and much of it is still navigable, although it is a dirt road, and i've learned my lesson about dirt roads and Lizzie!  She really doesn't like them much, especially after it has rained.  I took that road for two reasons -- first just to see it, and second because a quilt shop that purchases Magic Triangles in bulk from me was just another 20 miles beyond the end of the Lander Road. What an opportunity to stop in there and thank them for all those orders!  They were surprised to see me -- after all, Pinedale is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and how did a quilt designer end up just "being in town?"   

From there, it was back to the trail, and on to Ft. Bridger, named after the famous mountain man, Jim Bridger. It was a beautiful setting, with birch trees all around, a river running nearby, and lush green fields everywhere you looked. These were cultivated fields, but during that time, there was lots of grass for grazing. They had a very nice museum, and a nice place for a picnic lunch.  Then it was back on the trail and into the mountains!  And that's where I'll end for this time. And the photos of that spot are on my iPhone and I can't post them....sorry!