Leslie and David's Wanderings: 21 August 2024 Independence Rock State Historical Site

While driving into Casper, we had noticed several signs for turn offs to Independence Rock. We vaguely remembered it had something to do with the Oregon Trail, so looked it up on line. After some research we decided it would be an interesting place to visit since we had visited other pioneer landmarks in Kansas (Scotts Bluff) and New Mexico (Inscription Rock). We loaded Keira up after lunch and drove the 61 miles to the site. We were surprised to find out it was also a highway road stop. The rock is a giant granite dome that was one of the navigation points for the pioneers on the Oregon Trail. The goal of the pioneers was to be at the rock by 4 July so they could make it through the mountains before the winter snows. Between 1849 and 1869, over 500,000 pioneers passed this point, usually stopping for water from the Sweetwater River which runs just past the dome. There are over 5,000 inscriptions carved into the rock from 1818 onward. Most are hard to see now between weathering and moss growth. Many were done with axle grease and dirt which have since weathered away. But the University of Wyoming did a laser scan of the dome and were able to distinguish many inscriptions that can no longer be seen with the naked eye. The rock got its name when one of the early wagon trains stopped here on 4 July and had an Independence Day celebration. We walked the trail all the way around the base of the rock (1.5 miles) with Keira. We saw some people early on in our walk on top of the rock. As we walked around the far side of the rock it started to rain big cold drops intermittently. The clouds did not look threatening and since we were about as far away from the Behemoth as we could be, we just resided ourselves to getting wet. Keira really did not like being in the rain. We considered climbing up on the rock for the view, but could see lightning in some of the storms in the distance and decided we did not want to be on top of a granite dome in case lighting came closer. There was no visitor center for the site and many of the signs had been vandalized. Given the history, we were surprised this had not been made a National Monument yet. After we finished the trail we headed back home thinking about those intrepid pioneers that faced so many hardships in their journey.