I posted last Friday of the unexpected scenery in Colorado. On my return trip home, I visited a site pictured in history books since elementary school. While still remarkable to see, an encounter made that history come alive in an unexpected way and transported me to 1843.
For travelers coming across hundreds of miles of the Great Plains, the sandstone bluffs rising more than 800 feet above the grasslands was a remarkable sight, and a taste of the challenges to soon come. From atop the bluff, you can see Chimney Rock in the distant southeast, which for many travelers was the first hint of the changing landscape.
Looking the other direction today, the straight tracks of the Union Pacific head west. The city of Scottsbluff, Nebraska sits below.
You can drive up to the bluff or take a pet friendly trail through the grasslands and along the sandstone. After long drives in the car, the trail is welcome by humans and dogs.
Before the hike up the bluff, I’d stopped at the Vistor Center and chatted with the a volunteer ranger. He said, “You should’ve been here ten minutes ago. Decendents of some of the first migrants were just here. A lady named Alice is 97 years old.” Apparently, they left to drive up the bluff.
As you climb up the bluff, a tunnel cuts through the sandstone to get you to the other side. As I stopped to get a picture of Chance framed in the tunnel, an unexpected wildlife encounter ensued. Putting his retractable leash between my legs to be able to hold the camera, I was focusing when suddenly three pigeons flew into the tunnel. Chance jumped and turned to get them. They scattered in all directions—two back out and one over my head. The leash pulled out from between my legs as Chance ran toward the tunnel opening with a cliff on the other side, and the retractable handle whacked him, stunning him and causing him to sit before hitting the cliff. And I somehow got an image.
Returning to the Vistor Center, a display of covered wagons and oxen help you image the teams that crossed through the pass by Scotts Bluff. The first large contingent on the Oregon Trail, came through in 1843. About 1,000 people left Independence, Missouri that spring. Their elected captain was Peter Burnett, who in seven years would win another election to become the first governor of California.
Then I see a couple women in the parking lot, so I ask the older one, “Are you Alice?”
We had a nice chat. Alice Adams and her daughter were visiting Scotts Bluff for the first time. They still live in Oregon. Two sets of Alice’s great-grandparents were on the 1843 wagon train!
Alice Adams
A pleasant diversion to see an historical place and take a hike turned into an unforgettable encounter.
