HOW Day 14
Pinedale, WY to Atlantic City, WY
This was a day we were very much looking forward to as we would be traveling a number of immigrant trails.
We started with a two track trail that was quite sandy and a challenge for the big bikes. We made it though.
We then followed the Lander Cutoff Trail. It is a beautiful, primitive two-track remnant from the Oregon Trail. It is unmaintained, and included a couple of rocky, steep and loose inclines. There also is the ford of the Sweetwater River, whose streambanks are steeply cut and posed some difficulty. Although not recommend ed for large, heavily loaded adventure-class motorcycles we decided to tackle it anyway and had a lot of fun.
We then took the road to South Pass, a broad gap in the Rocky Mountains that provided 19th-century travelers -- from fur trappers and Mormon emigrants to forty-niners, Pony Express riders and stagecoach passengers -- with the easiest crossing of the Rockies. Emigrants -- some 400,000 of them -- found water and forage for themselves and even greater numbers of livestock along the pass’ primary waterway, the Sweetwater River.
As suggested by the person who put together the route, we gazed out across the landscape and imagined how it looked 165 years ago, when every meadow was occupied by wagons and livestock, and nights were illuminated by emigrants’ campfires.
We stopped at the crossroads village of Farson, and had a very good sandwich and took some photos with an howl.
We then followed more emigrant trails through poignant Parting of the Ways, a fork where those heading to Oregon Territory went one way (right), and those heading to California the other (left), never to see each other again after enduring months of arduous overland travel together. We stopped and took some photos.
We then continued through Little Sandy Crossing, where it crossed a stream on a simple bridge amid a marshy area that was another important emigrant stopping place, and where graves have been identified.
As we rode these trails one cannot wonder how difficult it must have been for the early settlers to travel with heavily laden wagons pulled by oxen.
We then rode through Atlantic City, WY (population 57) which is an authentic, historic town that remains true to its origins when it was a gold mining camp during the turn of the century.
We then rode on and topped for the night at Lander, WY.
Make Life a Ride !
Click HERE for all the photos and videos of the Day
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