Short search for wolves in Yellowstone; Fort Bridger ; National Oregon/California Trails Center ; Soda Springs ; on to Pocatello
(posted from Pocatello Public Library)
(This post covers 12 – 14 September, 2009)
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Monday, 14 September-
This morning we left Montpelier Canyon campground and drove into the town of Montpelier to visit the National Oregon/California Trail Center. We’ve were also looking for some variety in our breakfasts so first had huge omelets at the Butch Cassidy Restaurant. The famous Mr. Butch Cassidy robbed the local bank in 1896 but he didn’t own the restaurant so I’m not quite sure why it’s named for him. The owner must just be a fan, I guess.
We weren’t sure we wanted to pay the $9 per person to see the Trail Center since it gets a lukewarm description in the guidebooks we’re using. But it was actually pretty good. We met with our guide, Dave, who introduced himself as our wagonmaster and dressed the part. He thanked us for choosing him to guide our wagon train to Oregon from our starting point in Independence, Missouri. He pointed to a white line on the floor and said once we passed it, we would be in 1850’s Independence, preparing for the trip.
We stepped over the line and through a curtain into a gunsmith’s shop. After telling us that each of us over 12 years of age would be required to bring a firearm for our (and the wagon-train’s) protection, Dave described to us how long-guns were made as we examined period gun-smithing equipment.
We entered a large room which looked like a street in 1850’s Independence. It’s lined with stores, blacksmith shops, stables, etc. and our wagon was partially loaded with supplies. Dave explained why we’d take certain items and leave others and went over the working parts of the wagon and explained why we’d want to take oxen rather than horses or mules to pull our wagons. In short, oxen walk all day without feeding, feed at night, and are refreshed to go again in the morning. They are slow walkers but strong, even-tempered, and easily handled. And they taste good should the need arise.
The wagons used were, for the most part, ‘Studebaker-Form’ wagons, a farm wagon rather than the huge Conestoga-style freight wagons. The smaller wheels on front made the wagons more maneuverable. Wheels had to be greased every four days with a mix of tar, pine-oil and tallow.
We entered a store where Dave continued talking about the items we’d take and the costs. The average cost of the trip for a family was $1200-1500 of cash outlay. In some cases, families would move to Independence and work up to 3 years to be able to afford the trip.
Dave then herded us into a wagon and we took a simulated wagon ride, bumping and jolting along while listening to recorded excerpts from letters and diaries of the emigrants.
When the wagon stopped rocking, a curtain raised in the front of the wagon and we stepped off. We had arrived at Clover Creek Encampment, the historical location of an emigrant campsite very near the location of the museum today.
We were greeted by a woman who said she’s the wagonmaster’s wife and led us through a series of campfire-style locations while she described life on the Plains. She was much better at acting the part than had been our wagonmaster and stayed in character the whole time. She did a great job of transitioning from scene to scene as she told stories and sought our participation, eventually leading us to a scene in Oregon’s Williamette Valley and the end of our trip.
For a home-town operation, this one is VERY well done. And we could tell it was someone who knew what they were doing who put together this show which required only two people to guide us through and keep us interested. Well done, Montpelier!
After the Trail Center, we drove back to the campground for a bit of lunch and camp-showers. It was also time to clean out the ice box and sweep out the van and re-stow.
We then shopped a local market called Broulim’s for essentials, then headed west on US30.
Our next stop was Soda Springs, where we found Hooper’s Spring and drank from it, just as the emigrants had. It’s said to be an exceptionally fine soda water. Our book says there was also reported to be a nearby spring called ‘Beer Spring’ which, if one imbibed too much, made one dizzy. The locals seem to have kept the location of that one to themselves.
We then drove on to Pocatello and in doing so drove through a very strong thunderstorm, our first of the trip.
We knew our next goal, a re-creation of Fort Hall, was closed by now so we only checked with the visitor center to get current operating hours. We then drove an exit south of Pocatello to take a road into the Caribou National Forest at Mink Creek. We found a campsite for the night on a road into the ATV-trails portion of the National Forest.
We spent the evening blogging, working a crossword puzzle, and then watching a movie. We’ve been carrying along the ‘Planet Earth’ DVD collection for something like a year and 20 thousand miles now so it was finally time to open the package.
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 13 September-
We had a very restful night at the Gros Ventre Campground, north of Jackson. As we had driven in last evening we could see a massive smoke plume at the back of the mountain just east of the campground. A sign told us it’s a planned fire but nevertheless we wondered whether we’d smell smoke all night. The smoke all seemed to be lifted and carried away rather than dropping down into our valley, so we thought we should be fine. And that was indeed the case. We had no smoky smell overnight and nothing this morning.
Our plan today was to rejoin the Oregon Trail near where we had diverted to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. That had been at South Pass, the point where the emigrants first entered what at the time was Oregon Territory. They were still hundreds of miles from what is today the state of Oregon but we can imagine their excitement at first realizing the rivers they are following are now flowing the other way—to the Pacific Ocean.
We didn’t want to retrace our steps to South Pass itself so chose Fort Bridger as the logical place to rejoin. Fort Bridger is named for Jim Bridger, the famous mountaineer, trader, explorer, and legend. It is Bridger who had explored into the valley of the Great Salt Lake and suggested it to Brigham Young as a suitable settlement area for the Mormons.
Bridger had attempted to establish several trading posts in his fur-trading years but it wasn’t until he set up Fort Bridger to serve the emigrants that he struck gold. In a letter to suppliers he said the emigrants arrive at his camp with plenty of ready cash and a strong need to re-supply and replace worn stock.
Bridger eventually sold out to the Mormons but it wasn’t long until the Mormons burned the fort down as they left on the run from the US Army during the so-called ‘Mormon Wars’.
The fort was later rebuilt by the military but faded into obscurity after the Civil War only to be resurrected in the new century for its historic value.
Our favorite part of our tour of the fort today was the reconstructed frontier fort. The rude little log buildings are low-ceilinged and dirt-floored. One side of the main building is a blacksmith shop and it looks like the blacksmith is about to come in and start building the fire in his forge for his day’s work. The other side looks like a trader’s shop but it has a mix of modern tourist goods and some very nice reproductions of firearms (non-functioning) and frontier knives. I came very close to buying a knife but couldn’t find just the ‘right’ knife-and-sheath combination. The repros are done by a member of the American Mountain Man Association, an organization noted for its work in authentically re-creating the tools, foods, clothes, etc of the mountain man era. I don’t know his name but his trademark is a small canoe and I saw one item which also had the initials JT or JR above the canoe. I’ll have to see if I can find him online. The girl at the counter didn’t know his name but believes he’s from Oregon.
Though it was late in the afternoon, there wasn’t any cheap camping handy so we drove on to Montpelier, Idaho. This little town is right on the Oregon Trail and as it happens we had stayed in the Montpelier Canyon campground just outside of town last year on our way home from Alaska so we headed there today.
Our drive from Fort Bridger to Kemmerer to Montpelier was magnificent in the evening light. We arrived at the campground in time to build a fire from firewood generously donated by previous campers. Later, we caught up a bit on the blog and on our reading about the Trail.
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 12 September-
We awoke before dawn this morning in order to get in position for sunrise at our favorite spot south of Obsidian Cliff. But we had no luck there this year. The frosty meadow was bare of any animals. We probably should have waited to let the sun light up the meadow but we instead chose to drive north through Mammoth Springs, then east to the Blacktail Plateau Drive, a six-mile long dirt road winding through the backcountry. Along the way we saw a few solitary bison and an impressive bull elk south of Mammoth Springs. And of course there were dozens of elk in the town of Mammoth Springs itself. Somehow, it’s not the same to see the elk calming loitering throughout the town as it is to see them in the wild.
We struck out on the Blacktail Plateau so decided to continue on to the Lamar Valley. There we saw a largish herd of bison descending a hill in the distance and it made us wish we had been able to see the huge herds of the 19th century.
We hit the regular wolf-watching hot-spots along the Lamar Valley Road but to no avail; we were late in the morning after all.
We did see a coyote very near the road, apparently eating. I couldn’t tell if it was eating from a kill or had just caught some small mammal.
We had thought we’d spend our second day in the park in the Lamar Valley but I’ve picked up some flu bug or something and we didn’t want to walk today. We decided instead to head back down the east side of the Grand Loop Road and then continue on out of the park and on to Jackson.
Since Yellowstone has a 45 mile-per-hour (or slower) speed limit throughout the park, we had a nice, long easy-going drive. We stopped at Heart Lake Trailhead again -- this time to make a late lunch-- before continuing on.
In Jackson we went to the Albertson’s Market and found a shady spot in the far reaches of its gigantic parking lot. We napped for an hour to make up for lost sleep, then shopped for a few specialty items we like from Albertson’s. After finishing up the shopping, we took the laptops into the mini-courtyard and took care of uploading the blog and picking up our email.
We both wanted a good burger for supper and after a few false starts (Jackson is very crowded this Saturday night), we ended up at Burke’s Chop House. That turned out to be a great stroke of luck. We shared a 10-ounce, perfectly charred, bleu-cheese burger and a fancy (and exceptionally good) salad.
As darkness fell we drove the five miles out of Jackson to the Gros Ventre campground for the night.
****** END OF POST *******
(posted from Pocatello Public Library)
(This post covers 12 – 14 September, 2009)
---------------------------------------------------
Monday, 14 September-
This morning we left Montpelier Canyon campground and drove into the town of Montpelier to visit the National Oregon/California Trail Center. We’ve were also looking for some variety in our breakfasts so first had huge omelets at the Butch Cassidy Restaurant. The famous Mr. Butch Cassidy robbed the local bank in 1896 but he didn’t own the restaurant so I’m not quite sure why it’s named for him. The owner must just be a fan, I guess.
We weren’t sure we wanted to pay the $9 per person to see the Trail Center since it gets a lukewarm description in the guidebooks we’re using. But it was actually pretty good. We met with our guide, Dave, who introduced himself as our wagonmaster and dressed the part. He thanked us for choosing him to guide our wagon train to Oregon from our starting point in Independence, Missouri. He pointed to a white line on the floor and said once we passed it, we would be in 1850’s Independence, preparing for the trip.
We stepped over the line and through a curtain into a gunsmith’s shop. After telling us that each of us over 12 years of age would be required to bring a firearm for our (and the wagon-train’s) protection, Dave described to us how long-guns were made as we examined period gun-smithing equipment.
We entered a large room which looked like a street in 1850’s Independence. It’s lined with stores, blacksmith shops, stables, etc. and our wagon was partially loaded with supplies. Dave explained why we’d take certain items and leave others and went over the working parts of the wagon and explained why we’d want to take oxen rather than horses or mules to pull our wagons. In short, oxen walk all day without feeding, feed at night, and are refreshed to go again in the morning. They are slow walkers but strong, even-tempered, and easily handled. And they taste good should the need arise.
The wagons used were, for the most part, ‘Studebaker-Form’ wagons, a farm wagon rather than the huge Conestoga-style freight wagons. The smaller wheels on front made the wagons more maneuverable. Wheels had to be greased every four days with a mix of tar, pine-oil and tallow.
We entered a store where Dave continued talking about the items we’d take and the costs. The average cost of the trip for a family was $1200-1500 of cash outlay. In some cases, families would move to Independence and work up to 3 years to be able to afford the trip.
Dave then herded us into a wagon and we took a simulated wagon ride, bumping and jolting along while listening to recorded excerpts from letters and diaries of the emigrants.
When the wagon stopped rocking, a curtain raised in the front of the wagon and we stepped off. We had arrived at Clover Creek Encampment, the historical location of an emigrant campsite very near the location of the museum today.
We were greeted by a woman who said she’s the wagonmaster’s wife and led us through a series of campfire-style locations while she described life on the Plains. She was much better at acting the part than had been our wagonmaster and stayed in character the whole time. She did a great job of transitioning from scene to scene as she told stories and sought our participation, eventually leading us to a scene in Oregon’s Williamette Valley and the end of our trip.
For a home-town operation, this one is VERY well done. And we could tell it was someone who knew what they were doing who put together this show which required only two people to guide us through and keep us interested. Well done, Montpelier!
After the Trail Center, we drove back to the campground for a bit of lunch and camp-showers. It was also time to clean out the ice box and sweep out the van and re-stow.
We then shopped a local market called Broulim’s for essentials, then headed west on US30.
Our next stop was Soda Springs, where we found Hooper’s Spring and drank from it, just as the emigrants had. It’s said to be an exceptionally fine soda water. Our book says there was also reported to be a nearby spring called ‘Beer Spring’ which, if one imbibed too much, made one dizzy. The locals seem to have kept the location of that one to themselves.
We then drove on to Pocatello and in doing so drove through a very strong thunderstorm, our first of the trip.
We knew our next goal, a re-creation of Fort Hall, was closed by now so we only checked with the visitor center to get current operating hours. We then drove an exit south of Pocatello to take a road into the Caribou National Forest at Mink Creek. We found a campsite for the night on a road into the ATV-trails portion of the National Forest.
We spent the evening blogging, working a crossword puzzle, and then watching a movie. We’ve been carrying along the ‘Planet Earth’ DVD collection for something like a year and 20 thousand miles now so it was finally time to open the package.
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 13 September-
We had a very restful night at the Gros Ventre Campground, north of Jackson. As we had driven in last evening we could see a massive smoke plume at the back of the mountain just east of the campground. A sign told us it’s a planned fire but nevertheless we wondered whether we’d smell smoke all night. The smoke all seemed to be lifted and carried away rather than dropping down into our valley, so we thought we should be fine. And that was indeed the case. We had no smoky smell overnight and nothing this morning.
Our plan today was to rejoin the Oregon Trail near where we had diverted to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. That had been at South Pass, the point where the emigrants first entered what at the time was Oregon Territory. They were still hundreds of miles from what is today the state of Oregon but we can imagine their excitement at first realizing the rivers they are following are now flowing the other way—to the Pacific Ocean.
We didn’t want to retrace our steps to South Pass itself so chose Fort Bridger as the logical place to rejoin. Fort Bridger is named for Jim Bridger, the famous mountaineer, trader, explorer, and legend. It is Bridger who had explored into the valley of the Great Salt Lake and suggested it to Brigham Young as a suitable settlement area for the Mormons.
Bridger had attempted to establish several trading posts in his fur-trading years but it wasn’t until he set up Fort Bridger to serve the emigrants that he struck gold. In a letter to suppliers he said the emigrants arrive at his camp with plenty of ready cash and a strong need to re-supply and replace worn stock.
Bridger eventually sold out to the Mormons but it wasn’t long until the Mormons burned the fort down as they left on the run from the US Army during the so-called ‘Mormon Wars’.
The fort was later rebuilt by the military but faded into obscurity after the Civil War only to be resurrected in the new century for its historic value.
Our favorite part of our tour of the fort today was the reconstructed frontier fort. The rude little log buildings are low-ceilinged and dirt-floored. One side of the main building is a blacksmith shop and it looks like the blacksmith is about to come in and start building the fire in his forge for his day’s work. The other side looks like a trader’s shop but it has a mix of modern tourist goods and some very nice reproductions of firearms (non-functioning) and frontier knives. I came very close to buying a knife but couldn’t find just the ‘right’ knife-and-sheath combination. The repros are done by a member of the American Mountain Man Association, an organization noted for its work in authentically re-creating the tools, foods, clothes, etc of the mountain man era. I don’t know his name but his trademark is a small canoe and I saw one item which also had the initials JT or JR above the canoe. I’ll have to see if I can find him online. The girl at the counter didn’t know his name but believes he’s from Oregon.
Though it was late in the afternoon, there wasn’t any cheap camping handy so we drove on to Montpelier, Idaho. This little town is right on the Oregon Trail and as it happens we had stayed in the Montpelier Canyon campground just outside of town last year on our way home from Alaska so we headed there today.
Our drive from Fort Bridger to Kemmerer to Montpelier was magnificent in the evening light. We arrived at the campground in time to build a fire from firewood generously donated by previous campers. Later, we caught up a bit on the blog and on our reading about the Trail.
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 12 September-
We awoke before dawn this morning in order to get in position for sunrise at our favorite spot south of Obsidian Cliff. But we had no luck there this year. The frosty meadow was bare of any animals. We probably should have waited to let the sun light up the meadow but we instead chose to drive north through Mammoth Springs, then east to the Blacktail Plateau Drive, a six-mile long dirt road winding through the backcountry. Along the way we saw a few solitary bison and an impressive bull elk south of Mammoth Springs. And of course there were dozens of elk in the town of Mammoth Springs itself. Somehow, it’s not the same to see the elk calming loitering throughout the town as it is to see them in the wild.
We struck out on the Blacktail Plateau so decided to continue on to the Lamar Valley. There we saw a largish herd of bison descending a hill in the distance and it made us wish we had been able to see the huge herds of the 19th century.
We hit the regular wolf-watching hot-spots along the Lamar Valley Road but to no avail; we were late in the morning after all.
We did see a coyote very near the road, apparently eating. I couldn’t tell if it was eating from a kill or had just caught some small mammal.
We had thought we’d spend our second day in the park in the Lamar Valley but I’ve picked up some flu bug or something and we didn’t want to walk today. We decided instead to head back down the east side of the Grand Loop Road and then continue on out of the park and on to Jackson.
Since Yellowstone has a 45 mile-per-hour (or slower) speed limit throughout the park, we had a nice, long easy-going drive. We stopped at Heart Lake Trailhead again -- this time to make a late lunch-- before continuing on.
In Jackson we went to the Albertson’s Market and found a shady spot in the far reaches of its gigantic parking lot. We napped for an hour to make up for lost sleep, then shopped for a few specialty items we like from Albertson’s. After finishing up the shopping, we took the laptops into the mini-courtyard and took care of uploading the blog and picking up our email.
We both wanted a good burger for supper and after a few false starts (Jackson is very crowded this Saturday night), we ended up at Burke’s Chop House. That turned out to be a great stroke of luck. We shared a 10-ounce, perfectly charred, bleu-cheese burger and a fancy (and exceptionally good) salad.
As darkness fell we drove the five miles out of Jackson to the Gros Ventre campground for the night.
****** END OF POST *******
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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