On Monday September 7 I left Casper Wyoming to begin the remote wilderness portion of the ride. Resupply points are few and far between so I restaged the panniers and tie on bags to carry additional food and water. The ride from Casper to Independence Rock was 60 miles.
There is a Wyoming State Rest Area at Independence Rock that serves as a great visitor center and in my case I used it as a campground.
Independence Rock was named by some earlier Pioneers traveling to Oregon (in 1842 I believe). They calculated that if they could reach that easy to identify landmark by July 4th they could make it to Oregon before winter. That became the standard for most other companies crossing the plains.
It is a very impressive rounded granite rock rising from the surrounding prairie. Quite a few pioneers carved their names and date in the rock when they arrived. In fact the Mormons even stationed some professional stone masons there to carve peoples names in the rock for a fee. There were some very talented professionals who joined the Church in Europe and then immigrated to the Rocky Mountain Great Basin. They were quite creative in the way they raised money for supplies. Some 150 year old names are still visible.
Dad, I loved learning about all the details you included of Independence Rock. We also climbed the rock when we were there and saw some pretty impressive ways to write their names on the rock. It was a pretty amazing sight to see names of people who had come 150 years before. We made a rest stop there, but didn't spend the night like you did. Great rest stops in Wyoming!
ReplyDeleteSteph