Oregon Trail WY

We are now barreling down Interstate 80 through Wyoming following sections of the Oregon Trail. Yes, we usually try to avoid the interstates, but nothing beats them when you want to simply get from point A to point B.

Buttes and mesas outside of Green River

Fancy new yellow semi cab

At Rawlins, we turn north on hwy 287 and then northeast on hwy 220 which crosses the old Oregon Trail. We stop at the Independence Rock Rest Area.

Wide open spaces in Wyoming

Independence Rock Rest Area

Independence Rock is the approximate half way point on the Oregon Trail, which connected  Independence, Missouri to the fertile Willamette Valley in Oregon. During the great westward migration from about 1830 to 1869, approximately 400,000 people went west using a collection of trails (Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail, and Bozeman Trail). This journey was long and arduous - some came on horseback, some in wagons, some on foot dragging carts with their worldly possessions. Not all made to their destination. It's estimated that at least 35,000 died on the Oregon Trail alone. Most of these deaths were from illness and not by the hands of the native Indian tribes as the Hollywood movies would have you believe. Dysentery was the main killer especially in the later years as the once pristine river waters became polluted from previous wagon trains.

The significance of arriving at Independence Rock by July 4 meant travelers were likely to make it through the mountain passes before the snowfall and avoiding getting trapped in a struggle for survival as with the Donner Party. Emigrants congregated around Independence Rock for a major party on July 4 with many celebrating by carving their names on this enormous granite outcrop.

Independence Rock

Memorial of names carved into the rock

Pathway around Independence Rock

Not far away, we find a wonderful campsite along the Platte River in Chalk Bluffs BLM campground. We wonder if this campground was used by the wagon trains as we set up our own camp. Relaxing around our new camp, we see deer browsing across the river and birds flying overhead.  We try to imagine what this camp was like during the first wave of wagon trains, when the game was plentiful and large flocks of birds darkened the skies. These early travelers must of thought they had stumbled upon a Garden of Eden.

Platte River

Campsite

Deer browse across the Platte

As the sun starts to set, the light turns the Platte into a magical place.
In the morning, we discover we had similar vivid dreams.  I was with the women on a wagon train fixing dinner with the other women and keeping an eye on the children. Peter dreamed he was with the men tending to the animals and making repairs to the wagons.We were amazed at our shared simultaneous dreams. Then we spotted a marker at old wagon tracks still visible after over a hundred years. The spirit of the Oregon Trail is strong at this campsite.

White pelicans on the Platte

Oregon Trail wagon tracks

Fly fishermen catching and releasing some beauties

So of course we have to stop at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center which sits on a bluff above Casper WY.  First we investigate a Prairie Schooner (the most common covered wagon used on the trails), an Indian teepee, and a Pony Express Office all of which are on the grounds by the entrance.

Prairie Schooner

Modern teepee

Pony Express Office

Also by the entrance is patch of reclaimed natural prairie grasses and wildflowers.  These beautiful wildflowers were often mentioned in the diaries of the emigrants, who gathered them for weddings and funerals.

Prairie grasses and wildflowers

Entrance to National Historic Trails Interpretative Center

Native grizzly claw necklace

Exhibit showing oxen and covered wagon

Ride across Platte River inside wagon

In the mere 18 months of its existence (1860-1861), the Pony Express offered the fastest mail service from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts in only 10 days. In our current days of electronic and over-night express, 10 days seems like forever, but this was before the transcontinental telegraph or railroad was completed. Stations were placed about 10 miles apart, so riders could switch horses and get a quick rest before galloping off again. Each rider averaged around 75 miles a day. It was grueling work, but the pay of $100/month versus $1/day for manual labor attracted the country's best riders including William Cody (aka Buffalo Bill).

Pony express rider on galloping horse

Specialized mail pouch/saddle called a mochila

Illustrated Map of Pony Express Route in 1860 by William Henry Jackson - Courtesy the Library of Congress

We have come a long way from the days of covered wagons and the pony express. Both were replaced by railroads and telegraphs. While the railroads remain, the pace of transportation and communication has leaped ahead - far ahead with electrons moving faster than a speeding bullet. Yes, these modern conveniences are great to have, but I still wonder what the west was like with abundant wildlife and flocks of birds that blacken the skies.

Great Basin NP NV

From Berlin we drive north back to Hwy 50 and then east. While the rains have abated some the wild skies are still spectacular.  I love wide open spaces.

Bye-bye Berlin

Dirt devil under a wild sky

We stop to run errands in Ely NV, which has become one of our go-to places to get things done on the road.  By the time we're finished, it's too late to make camp in Great Basin National Park so we stay at the Ely KOA just south of town. Normally we avoid KOAs, but we're tired and it's the only game in town. It's not as inexpensive nor as scenic as the campgrounds we've been staying in, but it gives us a chance to catch up on email, showers and laundry, besides the staff are friendly and helpful.

Few lingering showers towards Ely

Exiting Ely KOA

It's only an hour's drive from Ely to the first Visitors' Center just outside Great Basin NP.  As we're walking out of the Visitors' Center, a man about our age walks up and asks if we are driving the Alaskan Camper out in the parking lot. Mystified, we shrug our shoulders and say yes, that's us. He starts laughing and motions to follow him.  He has the exact same camper on the same truck as we do and it's parked nose to nose to ours. We've all had the campers about same amount of time.  Of course, he and Peter immediately start compare notes on specs and operations etc while I start to yawn and get antsy about moving on.  Turns out he's planning to stay up at the Wheeler Peak campground to do some hiking while we've already picked Baker Creek campground. So we wish each other luck and move on.

Identical camper twins (ours is the one on the right)

On the way to Baker Creek Campground

Marmot crossing?

Yes! Marmot crossing

After securing a nice campsite, we opt to take the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive all the way to the end of the road. It's well worth driving if you're staying around the park as it offers amazing vistas of the mountains and the valleys below.

Sunlit high meadow

Wheeler Peak up ahead

Wheeler Peak After the scenic drive, we go on a short hike around the campground.  The meadows are lush with wildflowers and rushing streams. Deer and wild turkeys abound around every corner.

Meadow full of wildflowers

Mt Wheeler in the distance

CU of Mule's Ears

Baker Creek is cranking

Nice spacious campsite

Healthy looking wild turkey

The next morning we get up early to close up camp to make the 10am tour of Lehman Caves, which we had booked the day before. The Lehman Visitor Center is mostly staffed by college students from around the country and we have fun bantering with them before the tour.

Lehman Visitor Center

Limestone waterfall formation

Lots of stalagmites and stalactites

Cave bacon

Giant stalagmite

Dripping water creating a new formation

As we're leaving Great Basin, we notice a sign to the Baker Archaeological Site pointing down a graded gravel road. We figure might as well take it as we've got extra time. 

View towards Great Basin NP range from Baker Village

Turns out it's the remains of a small Fremont Culture village that was occupied from around 1220 to 1295 AD.  Since that was during the time of the mega-drought that decimated many of the southwest's Ancestral Pueblo civilizations, we wonder why they built their village so far from the mountain streams. Then we see the remains of a large and well organized irrigation system that once brought water from the Great Basin mountains to their agricultural fields. Looks like the Fremont peoples knew exactly what they were doing after all.