Idaho Next

 

Its a beautiful day but we're leaving Yellowstone early. By the end of the day snow is supposed to fall and not stop for a week. We don't want to spend the next week or so stuck in the mountains so off we go. We travelled through Jackson Hole to get to the pass that takes us out of the Teton Mountains.

High in the pass we find this lake. It's a hydro dam lake but seems to be about 50' below normal based on the water line. How many billion gallons would it take to fill it up again?

Our route through the mountains traveled alongside the Snake River. On this side of the mountains all rivers flow to the Pacific, remember. And that's the way we're heading.

We seem to be the only people travelling these days. Most campgrounds and rest areas are pretty empty. Hard to believe a blizzards coming later today. 

After a relaxing drive through the mountain pass, which was a lot more level than when we went to Yellowstone, we have arrived at our stop in southern Idaho. It's warmer here than in the mountains and only rain is expected when the big storm hits. 

After 2 days of rain, we're ready to do a bit of exploring. Due south of our campground is a National Reserve called City of Rocks. It's a geological feature where towers of  granite stick out of the ground like an abandoned city. 

City of Rocks is right on one of the major wagon train routes to the west and many pioneers noted the location in their journals. Hundreds of wagons like this made up a wagon train miles long and they took months to arrive at their destination.

That small V in the middle of the picture brought the wagon trains into the City of  Rocks area. Most rested here before moving on towards California or Oregon. 

Camp Rock, this huge formation, was a popular place for pioneers to write their names as they passed through. 

They wrote their names using axle grease and it has lasted all these years. This one was done in 1830 and is still visible. That was some grease!

Some pioneers decided to stay in the area but droughts, poor soil and harsh winters eventually drove everyone out except for present day ranchers. 

Grammie likes to read all the info available. It's right at freezing, doesn't she look comfortable. 

The area was named by the pioneers who passed through here; doesn't it look a bit like buildings jumbled about.  

Back to the campground to find that we finally have a neighbour. As they say, look what the wind blew in. That tumbleweed is half the size of the Jeep. Glad it didn't hit Harvey. On to Nevada next.