Rivers and Ruts
Comment via blog
Prev
Next
|
Day 28: July 3, 2021 Rivers and Ruts Comment via blog |
Prev Next |
|
|
|
Like yesterday, today's route mostly involved the current alignment of
US-20. I pulled over to take this picture of the North Fork of the Malheur
River somewhere around midway between Untura and Harper.
|
|
|
When I stopped to photograph the oldest building in Vale, OR, I found the
museum there open and took the opportunity to check it out. It has a bit
of the "town attic" feel with information and artifacts on the
town of Vale and the Oregon Trail that its settlers followed to get here.
The docent was fairly new and not familiar with individual item in the
museum but pointed out a couple of other attractions in and around the
town. One, the many murals in Vale, I knew about and intended to
photograph a couple. (I did.) The other, Oregon Trail ruts, I knew nothing
of.
They are about a half-dozen miles from town, at the Keeney Pass Interpretive Site, and very easy to get to. However, once there, I again demonstrated just how bad I am at photographing ruts. There are two side-by-side ruts at the site but they are not the perfectly parallel tracks wheels mounted on a single wagon might make. As the sign indicates, each rut was made by a long stream of wagons, attached animals, and people on foot. There are two because the people liked to travel beside one another. |
|
|
Vale was my last stop in Oregon and it wasn't long before I was in Parma,
ID, photographing an Oregon Trail Marker and a replica of the old fort
Boise. I crossed the Boise River on a 1922 three span bridge near the town
of Caldwell.
|
|
|
I reached the Snake River near Hammett and traveled more or less beside it
for the rest of the day. These photos of road, rails, and river were
snapped near King Hill.
|
|
|
At Bliss, I left my planned route to head to my motel and was pleasantly
surprised to find myself on a scenic byway with great views of the Snake
River and some fossil beds.
|
|
|
This is my motel in Hagerman Valley. It was my first booking with
Priceline and I was a little nervous about it. Available rooms were far
from plentiful for the Saturday night of a holiday weekend and when
Priceline came up with a reasonably priced one within ten miles of my
route, I grabbed it. The
Hagerman Valley Inn looked OK and the cars and
illuminated no vacancy sign made me feel
better. After meeting the friendly owner and staying in
this room, I became a Priceline convert.
|
|
|
| [Prev] [Site Home] [Trip Home] [Contact] [Next] |
