I've been enjoying my Memorial Day weekend camped next to the Snake River at the Historic Milner Recreation Area near Burley, Idaho. It's historic because remnants of the Oregon Trail are here, which is where I've been taking my walks. You can still see the ruts made by the wagon trains that once passed through here.
Photo Captions:
1) This is our campsite next to the Snake River. Here we have a very large campsite that includes a picnic table and a fire ring.
2) Our campsite also has this great view of the Snake River. I love camping by the water.
3) Memorial Day weekend has brought lots of boaters to the river. Here are some folks cruising past our campsite.
4) There are plenty of fishermen on the river too.
5) I'm being watched while doing my walks. As it is with a lot of the public lands, there are free range cattle out here. These are
Black Angus Cattle (Bos primigenius taurus).
6) I found some wildflowers on my walk. These are Whitestem Blazingstar (Mentzelia albicaulis) blossoms.
7) My daily walks have been extra special here. I've been able to walk alongside part of the historic Oregon Trail! This picture shows the entrance to the part of the trail where I've been taking my walks.
8) When the Oregon Trail was first laid by fur traders around 1811 it was only passable on foot or by horseback. Today there's a paved path next to the original trail, which I appreciate when I take my walks.
9) Next to the paved path you can still see a depression, a groove in the landscape made by the wagons that used the trail. I hope you can see it in this picture. Originally, the trail was 2,170 miles (3,490 km) long and stretched from Missouri to the valleys of Oregon. Here there's a little more than one mile of the trail visible and marked with historic markers.
10 & 11) These are the historic markers along the Oregon Trail. In its heyday, which was the early to mid 1830's, the trail was used by about 400,000 settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families.
