About 50 - 60 miles west of Martins Cove the Mormon Church has created another Visitors Center. It is at the location where the "Willie Handcart Company" was rescued from the same winter storm that got the "Martin Handcart Company".

Both companies were rescued by wagon companies that Brigham Young sent from Salt Lake City when he learned that there were still pioneer companies on the trail in Wyoming late in the season (in addition to the two handcart companies there was a wagon company).

It is an interesting but not widely known fact that Brigham Young sent the rescuers out before the winter storm hit. They were also blasted by the storm as they searched for the 3 delayed pioneer companies.

The Willie Visitor Center is on US highway 287. US 287 junctions with State Highway 28 forming a triangle with Lander Wyoming at the top and the Mormon Trail as the base. I eventually wanted to get to Highway 28 so I decided to ride on the Mormon Trail for 30 miles as a shortcut to the continental divide over South Pass. That would save me about 30 miles.

It was now Thursday September 10 and I was way behind schedule because I had spent so much time at Martins Cove and also I had been riding against headwinds all week so I had covered less than one half the distance. I still hoped to make it to Lyman Wyoming for Church on Sunday morning and it was a couple of hundred miles away.

This picture is a shot of me biking along the Mormon Trail. I did not ride fast on the trail. It was too soft for my skinny, hard road bike tires. There were lots of sharp rocks and the ascents and descents were extreme. This was not a prepared road. There was no grading or leveling or laying a road base. This was just a wagon trail across the prairie. I am very glad that I rode on the Mormon Trail for the experience. I saw and learned a lot but it was slow and difficult traveling.

After about 15 miles the Mormon Trail crossed a county dirt road. I gladly transitioned to the county road. It was still dirt but it was a graded, prepared road and my bike did quite well on it. I camped on top of a ridge with just the coyotes for company and decided I would do better on Friday.