We criss-crossed the Oregon Trail many times. The state of Wyoming has marked every crossing with a pillar. You can even see remnants of their wagon wheel tracks through the sage brush lined hills. After 45 miles, the long ribbon of smooth dirt became 17 miles of sandy, washboard. We were in the wide open, sun-soaked range and hating it. Every roller coaster seemed to get higher, and extend farther into the never ending distance. One final washboard hill to the highway, then down to a shaded rest area where we waited for Sarah and Silas to show. While we were waiting, six buses from Utah pulled in, unloading over 400 Mormons who just finished a re-enactment of a crossing made by Mormons settlers to the west, in which 75 of the 400 died. Two of the travelers sat down and talked to us about their re-enactment, while waiting for their bus drivers to take a break. They were also very interested in our travels. Minutes later, Sarah appeared. From there we decided to skip the next section of 137 miles of dry, wide open country, because of time constraints. We figured since we have to skip some sections anyway, that we should skip these. We drove about 2 hrs to Rawlins, a rundown old coal town traversed by the Mormon Trail, the Oregon Trail and the Overland Trail.
We found a forest service camp just out of town on the Teton Reservoir. This was just a pond, but a flock of pelicans lived there, and sandy hills leading down to the water, filled with red ants(Silas discovered to his absolute horror)! We sat in the comfort of Rocky while a tremendous thunder and lightning storm passed over us. We played Sequence hoping to take our minds off the great cataclysm occurring outside.More pics here
You guys look like you are having a lot of fun!!!! Thanks for keeping us updated.
ReplyDeleteBob and Dave