We've left Colorado and have begun our short meander through Wyoming .
We have a week booked in Buffalo, with 3 days to get there. About halfway between
Loveland CO, and Buffalo, is Glendo Lake- it looked like a nice place so we booked two nights at the state park.
That left us only one day to explore, so we tried to cram in as much as we could. We started the day with a hike, no surprise. Unfortunately we still can’t seem to outrun the heat, and our 3.5 mile hike became 2 miles. As it was, it was 97 degrees when we got back to the truck, around noon.
After lunch we made the trip to Fort Laramie, about an hour away.
This fort started as a trading post, and was taken over by the government when the number of pioneers trekking west swelled to the point where a military presence along the route became necessary.
We chatted with the volunteer ranger, who decided he liked us enough to show us his favorite tree on the property. It was an enormous willow tree.
He explained that the fort was more of a truck stop along the “highway” from East to west. Pioneers on the Mormon, California, and Oregon trail would stop here to rest, and resupply. It was the primary hub for transportation and communication in the Rocky Mountain area, until it was abandoned in 1890.
Although both the Oregon and Mormon trails follow the North Platte River for much of the way, The Mormon trail is slightly different than the Oregon trail, largely due to the fact that the Mormons didn’t want to associate with outsiders, so they usually traveled on opposite sides of the river.
Some of the buildings are still ruins, and some have been restored.
By the time we were done with Fort Laramie, it was getting late in the day and we still had an hour drive home- but we couldn’t resist a stop at nearby Oregon Trail Ruts. This small park is well done, with a paved walking path leading to the ruts, complete with signs explaining the history of the area.
The ruts can be as deep as 4 feet in the sandstone, and were usually made by the wagon wheels, but sometimes they were deliberately made, to make the trail smoother.
It is amazing to me to look at these and think about the tens of thousands of pioneers who passed this way, headed west, looking for a better life.
Just a little further down the road is the Pioneer Registry, where people passing by carved their names into the limestone cliffs- we would have like to see it- but we were tired and hungry, so we called it a day.
