Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/739845
MISSOURI AND KANSAS The modern roads I travel for my Oregon Trail road trip still follow much of the same course westward, and pass through settle- ments originally established to service the Oregon Trail. Starting on the banks of the Missouri River in Independence I drive to Topeka, Kansas. Here I wander through the lovingly reconstructed Old Prairie Town at the Ward-Meade Historic Site, and really get a feel for mid-19 th -century settlements. The next day I drive on deserted back roads northward to Alcove Spring. Near the town of Marysville, this well-known spring marks the point where pioneers left the tall- grass prairie and entered the plains that beckoned them westward. The pioneers camped nearby and left their names carved into the rocks, to be read centuries later by travellers such as me. NEBRASKA AND WYOMING The Oregon Trail enters Nebraska's southern border and continues northwest to Fort Kearny where the pioneers connected with the Great Platte River Road, which stretches across the state and became the pioneers' highway west. The Platte River, described as "a mile wide and an inch deep," guided not only emigrants headed for Oregon, but also those going to the California goldfields and Mormons aiming for Utah. Fort Kearny was a military post estab- lished in 1848 to protect the emigrants and as a stop for Pony Express riders. It is part of a Nebraska State Historical Park that includes an interpretive centre, recon- structed buildings and replica Oregon Trail wagons. I am even able to dress up as a pio- neer to get into the spirit of the place! The emigrants didn't have the GPS I enjoy, so they used landscape features to guide them on their way. Jail Rock and Courthouse Rock are two such famous land- marks. A short distance south of the North Platte River and easily visible from U.S. Highway 26, Chimney Rock is perhaps the most famous of the trail's landmarks. I'm greatly rewarded as the slender finger of rock is bathed in the afterglow of another splendid sunset along the trail. I spend time at Scotts Bluff National Monument. Here the wagons moved single- file and cut deep ruts still visible to today's visitors. I walk to the very top of the bluff, which provides a panoramic lookout on this section of the Oregon Trail as it winds into Wyoming. I am struck by the realization that my view is similar to that of the pio- neers who passed here so long ago. IDAHO AND OREGON Near Montpelier in eastern Idaho, the National Oregon/California Trail Center