Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/739845
provides a real connection to the trail pio- neers. The "Wagon Master" takes you back to daily life on the trail as you adopt a pio- neer persona in a memorable and poignant reconstruction. Around Montpelier are several other notable trail sights. The Big Hill is where pioneers had to slowly winch their wagons down to the valley floor below. Travellers likened the thermal waters at Soda Springs to sparkling beer and the soothing Lava Hot Springs must have seemed like heaven to the dusty travellers. In Boise, Idaho, the Oregon Trail Reserve features the historic Kelton Ramp, a gru- elling rock cut above the Boise River that dates back to 1860. Here, more clearly than anywhere else on the trail, I feel the enor- mity of their physical endurance as I walk in the wagon wheel ruts of those Oregon Trail visionaries. The trail enters Oregon northwest of Boise, where the pioneers headed northwest to meet the mighty Columbia River. I visit the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpre- tative Center, just west of Baker City. Panoramic windows provide scenic vistas of the Oregon Trail and the Blue Mountains. Another touch point: a pioneer's diary is part of the exhibit, describing the exact same view from precisely the same point on the trail where I stand. The Dalles is the point on the Columbia River where pioneers had a heart-rending decision to make: load their wagons on rafts to chance the destructive rapids of the Columbia Gorge or brave the snows of 3,353- metre Mt. Hood to the south. It was the last—and possibly greatest—hurdle on the entire trail before the weary folks reached their Promised Land. I continue west through the Columbia River Gorge along the Historic Columbia River Highway. This oldest national scenic highway in the U.S. takes me past glorious vistas and rushing waterfalls. I finally reach journey's end standing in the roaring ocean surf at Cannon Beach on the Pacific Coast of Oregon. My road trip has taken 50 hours to drive, travelling more than 4,400 kilometres through six U.S. states. And the pioneers of the 1800s travelled with me all the way. I walked in the ruts made by their wagons; touched the rocks where they carved their names; lingered at the springs where they camped; and gazed at landmarks they used to navigate their way. What an amazing, brave, exciting journey they made...and I have been privileged to follow their foot- steps all the way to the Pacific Ocean. DREAMSCAPES FALL/ WINTER 2016 26 DS T R A V E L P L A N N E R Air Canada operates flights into Kansas City, Missouri, where the Oregon Trail begins, and to Portland, Oregon, where it ends. Enterprise Rent-A-Car facilitates arrangements for pick up at one airport and drop off at the other. A range of accommodation is available along the route. I recommend The Woodward Inns on Fillmore in Topeka, Kansas; Barn Anew Bed & Breakfast near Mitchell, Nebraska; and the Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Oregon. To plan this and other U.S. road trips, log onto visittheusa.ca/usa/road-trips. BELOW: The mighty Missouri River near Independence, Missouri—the right bank was the frontier in 1850 and the left bank was the start of the Oregon Trail westward. RIGHT: Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska is a pioneer landmark on the edge of the prairies.