A Trek to Martin's Cove

Remember the storm we were waiting for last night? Well, when it came it came crashing down! The thunder and lightning were tremendous and the electricity went out with one of the strikes - thank goodness Gary had already installed our 'power box' which protects our electrical systems.

The rain that came was not too bad and we decided to go for a ride into town to check things out.

This house was near the "old town" part of Rawlins and looked pretty interesting. I am sure there is a lot more history to this town than we will have time to discover.

So, today we went on our trek. It was beautiful, and much cooler than what we have been in for the last 7 weeks! This is highway 287 heading north from Rawlins.

It took about an hour to drive out to the Martin Cove Historic site. The current Sun Ranch is at the location where the pioneers had traveled - Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail and the Pony Express all came through here.

Some of the buildings are from the Sun Ranch and some are replicas placed here to help give the visitors a chance to share in the history. In the foreground is a handcart like the pioneers used to travel across the plains.

The Sweetwater River runs along quite a bit of the trails. There was quite a bit of current in the river so the dogs did a lot of swimming without making much headway.

The bridge behind Gary is what the current 'pioneers' need to use to reach Martin's Cove. It is about a 2 mile jaunt from here.

Across from the Sun Ranch is the Seminoe Fort. It wasn't actually a fort, but a trading post for all the pioneers that came through this region.

In 2001 a team of students from University of Wyoming did an archeological dig to find the real location of the 'fort' (about 150 feet from the current replica) and dug up lots of cart & wagon parts, pioneer belongings and everyday utensils. There are quite a few items on display within one of the museums.

Current day youth from the church recreate part of the trek that the pioneers endured. Last year Gary and I worked with our local Dayton youth to help them get ready for their trek along the Mormon Emigrant Trail in California. They used carts just like the ones in the picture. Some of the handcarts here can be used by anyone who comes to the visitor center. We could have taken one for ourselves and traveled on some of the trail but didn't. Another time?

This is one of the many maps showing all the trails which came through the West. As you can see most pioneers took the same trail until they came to this area. Shortly afterward the trails split and go their own way.

One last look at the ranch complex. After that we left to go back to our comfortable, air-conditioned truck, traveled the 60 miles back to town in one hour and went to the grocery store loaded with all the food we needed. Now we are in our nice motorhome uploading pictures to share with everyone who may be miles away. Sure is two different worlds, isn't it? I have a lot of respect for the pioneers.

We are on the last legs of our travels - heading to Salt Lake City tomorrow. After our visit in SLC we will head back to Dayton and expect to be there on Wednesday. Eight weeks of traveling around the country has been wonderful. We are looking forward to seeing our friends, neighbors and family.