Oregon Trail
A wagon axle along the Snake River at Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho.
On our way to the Pacific Northwest we unintentionally closely followed the Oregon Trail. Most historical markers along the way are of some notable event or stop along the Trail.
We saw wagon wheel ruts in Kansas on past trips but haven’t camped at a place the early travelers’ stop. Massacre Rocks Park in Idaho is a place that the wagon trains stopped at, but as the name implies, it was not always a good stop. It had a trail that went to some wheel ruts on the edge of a field, they were not very deep.
Massacre Rocks, at sunrise
At our short stop in Vale, Oregon we took a side trip to Snively Hot Springs along the Owyhee River and on the way saw some historical markers for more wagon wheel ruts. These were about 24 inches deep, the most distinctive we’ve seen.
The scenery across our trip has been beautiful but it even looks daunting from the comfort of our RV going down paved roads. When you read about and see the rough, rocky, mountainous terrain the people walked 2,000 miles across to a new home, I’m sure I would not have made it .
Register Rock, where Oregon Trail migrants carved their names