Oregon Trail historical sidetrip

For Labor Day weekend, we ventured north into Wyoming to go camping with a bunch of friends at Guernsey Reservoir. On our way there, just outside of the town of Guernsey we stopped to see a couple of historical landmarks the "Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts" and "Register Cliff", now I am not that much of a history enthusiast, I don't really care about wars and generals, or past politics and presidents, but I was interested in seeing these historical places. Maybe it is my long time love of Little House on the Prairie, or playing the Oregon Trail computer game 20 years ago, but I am fascinated by the 1800's way of life and the adversities that pioneers faced trying to find a better life, which no doubt brought some of my relatives out west a few generations before my time. My family history isn't clear enough for me to know if any of my relatives passed through this actual spot or when, but knowing that some at least made a journey in a similar fashion made it all the more interesting. As with most historical markers and buildings I was expecting to see a very small section of unrecognizable "wagon ruts" in a fenced off area in the distance. Not only were there no fences but the more we explored the area the more ruts we came across and there was no mistaking them...I am now wondering why there aren't similar ruts still in existence everywhere along the trail route...maybe there are and they simply don't have a brown "historical marker" sign next to them, or maybe the geology of that area is actually more unique than it appears to anyone other than a rock scientist. Doug and the kids starting the short hike to the wagon rut area

The longest and most entrenched rut that we saw

sitting at the top of another rut section

one of many additional ruts we found upon exploration

I guess the Conestoga wagons were about 6 feet wide

As for Register Cliff, I really didn't know what to expect there, as it turns out that is exactly what it was; a cliff that pioneers and visitors inscribed their name (a very old and popular "I was here" rock) The sign out front said 55,000 people traveled the trail in peak years between the 1820's and 1860's, there were probably hundreds of thousands of signatures on this cliff. Some of the inscriptions were very ornate and machine like perfect, I can only imagine how much time someone spent sitting there carving in the rock 150 years ago. Unfortunately, this cliff's historical significance has been subjected to abuse by people from today and every year in between who drove up in their SUV's across a bridge (like us) and not a wagon fjording the river 100 yards away as well as 150 years of Wyoming wind beating upon it. I was able to capture a few photos of signatures from most likely some of the later Oregon Trail travellers amongst the not so old markings.

C.R. Barnes 1853 and a few others not quite as old

G.O. Willard from Boston in 1855

J.W. Roll 1857 from the U.S. Post among others

This was the oldest of the markings that I could photograph I believe it is from K.D. Jones in 1840...this person did not have the best engraving skills