Rock Springs Wyoming

We made a number of unexpected but welcome discoveries on our way to Rock Springs. Driving I-80 we saw signs for Fossil Butte National Monument. We assumed we must have been there before since we have sought out all the National Parks and Monuments in the west during our journeys. But calling up my Excel spreadsheet I confirmed we had not. Being only an hour out of our way, we headed that way.

50 million years ago much of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho was covered by huge lakes or seas before tectonic activity forced them up.  Fossil Lake was the smallest of the three, the others being Gosiute and Uinta. Because of this, these regions high in the hills boast some of the most prodigious fossil beds anywhere in the US. We’ve been to all the other western fossil bed monuments, but this visit was particularly interesting. The fossils on display were outstanding. Also, on the deck overlooking the lake bed at the Visitor Center, a 200-million-year timeline chart put all the parks we have visited over the years into chronological time frame for us – so cool!

Next we visited the Fort Bridger Trading Post. The city of Fort Bridger lies at a vortex. Most of the trails that brought settlers to the west went through here – the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Pony Express trail, the Mormon Trail – all went through what is now Fort Bridger. To serve that need, mountain man and trapper Jim Bridger opened a trading post there in 1842 to supply the folk passing through, calling it Fort Bridger.

The US Army established a fort there in the next decade to maintain the security of those traveling the many trails. We walked the parade grounds of Fort Bridger, visited the few remaining buildings that hadn’t been looted, and really enjoyed the convergence of the westward migration, the commerce of Jim Bridger, and the US Army attempt to protect the constant move west of the American people.

But it didn’t end there. In 1912, Carl Fisher (later head of Fisher Body of General Motors) conceived of a nation-wide paved highway for the emerging horseless carriage market. In 1913, the construction from Times Square NY to Lincoln Park in San Francisco began. Of course, it went through Fort Bridger. When the Army abandoned the fort, it sold off the land and buildings. The Roth family bought much of it. When the Lincoln highway came through, they took the wood from the barracks and built what came to be known as the Black and Orange Cabins for tourists on the Lincoln Highway. The cabins, while small, did include a small covered garage for the tourist’s motor car.

Our final discovery was Exploration Island National Historic Site. On a small island on the Green River in Wyoming, John Wesley Powell launched his epic explorations of the Green River and Colorado River in both 1869 and 1871. Many notable features in Nevada are named for JW Powell, including Lake Powell on the Colorado River. Lewis and Clark are said to have visited this island as well. Having hiked the 12-mile round trip to see the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, this site meant a great deal to us (except for the mosquitos which sent the Woman back to the Equinox for protection).

We took in one more gem. 20 miles outside Rock Springs on BLM land is the White Mountain petroglyph site. Being a BLM site, there are no services, and the drives are long and unpleasant. But, since we lover petroglyphs, we ventured out. These may be the least impressive petroglyphs we’ve seen, but any petroglyphs are worth the effort. While they don’t know for sure, they date these from 200 to 1,000 years old. They believe that these are art left by the Plains and Great Basin Indians. Despite the small scale of the site, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit!

Talk to you soon.