Oregon or Bust!

Did you ever play that Oregon Trail computer game when you were in school? Or maybe you worked through it with your children, making those critical choices about what to bring in the wagon and what to leave behind. Take a ferry or tow the wagon across? So many decisions!

If you did play the game, or if you've studied the Oregon Trail, then you'll remember that the river crossings were one of the biggest challenges along the way.

It was no game for the pioneers. They lost wagons, stock, and sometimes people in the turbulent waters. Our next two stops, as we work our way toward Oregon, are at two of the most famous of these Oregon Trail crossings.

From the City of Rocks area we traveled northwest, sticking primarily to the back roads. It's a pleasant drive, through rolling plains and small farming communities. We took a break around lunch time, stopping at Hagerman to visit the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.

This monument is a good place to learn about Idaho's "state fossil", the Hagerman Horse. The creature, which first appeared about 3.4 million years ago, was a member of the genus Equus, but not really a horse by modern standards. It was much more like today's zebra, and became extinct about 10,000 years ago, along with several other large species. The park holds the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) fossils in North America. They have a nice visitor's center right in the town of Hagerman, and then a driving tour where you can experience overlooks of the scene where the fossils were discovered. The visitor's center also houses a temporary display on the history of  the Minidoka Internment Camp.

We elected to skip the driving tour and continued on west toward our camping destination. Looking out the window I was startled to suddenly see waterfalls gushing from the steep cliffs along the river. Soon we passed a sign explaining this was the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway.

Truly, I've never seen anything like this. The springs gush forward with such force that in some cases the water shoots out like a fire hydrant, in others, the effect is a graceful waterfall. The water source is the Snake River Plains Aquifer, one of the largest groundwater systems in the world. It creeps through an area of several thousand square miles under southern Idaho's porous volcanic rock before emerging from the springs in the cliffs. The water is a fairly consistent 58 degrees or so, and so very favorable for trout. Fishermen, take note!

Our stopping point the first evening was scheduled for Three Island Crossing State Park, located at Glenns Ferry, Idaho. There is an Oregon Trail historic center here, but as our luck usually has it, the center is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and we only planned to be in the park on Monday. There are several signs around with information about the area, so we did a bit of a self-guided tour and called it good.

The park is beautiful! There are two camping loops, and though the sites don't have a view of the river, there are trees and lush grass everywhere. Sprinklers are running somewhere in the park pretty much all the time, thanks to the availability of river water. So lush and green, it was hard to pack up and leave.

Three Island Crossing

But, we are headed for appointments in Oregon, so leave we did. Next scheduled stop, Farewell Bend State Park, in Oregon.

We arrived early in the afternoon hoping to beat the crowds as we didn't have reservations. As it turns out there wasn't much competition. We set up camp at the end of the lower loop, under a nice tree. Our view also includes rolling golden hills covered with sunflowers as well as the river, another famous Oregon Trail crossing.

Farewell Bend was the last stop on the Oregon Trail along the Snake River where travelers could rest and water and graze their animals before they said "farewell" to the Snake River. From this point the trail turned north through more rugged country to follow the Burnt River.

We aren't facing such an arduous journey, and we've no animals to graze (Molly's not too fond of grass) so we recharged our selves by relaxing with a cold one under the tree and watching the nighthawks dip and soar. I've never seen them out quite so early in the evening, or quite so active.
There were dozens of them in the air, and they were sailing across the lawn only a few inches above the ground. I'm more accustomed to see them higher up, above the tops of trees. Wherever they fly, I'm happy, as they're eating bugs!

Farewell Bend

We've decided to stay at Farewell Bend a second night, then push on, down the trail, location TBD.

(Click on any photo for a larger image)