9\/14\/2020<\/p>\n
But first.<\/p>\n
This morning for a few steps, I followed in the footsteps of those brave westward looking pioneers from years gone by.<\/p>\n
We stopped at Scotts Bluff National Monument this morning where starting around 1850 pioneers by the thousands passed through Mitchells Pass.<\/p>\n
Before then they used a pass about 8 miles away, Mitchell\u2019s Pass cut off about 8 miles, that may not sound like much in today\u2019s terms but back then that could have been an entire day of travel and when your talking about a months long journey, that needed to be completed before winter set in, 1 day could make all the difference in the world to you.<\/p>\n
Here the Oregon trail narrowed down to a 1 wagon wide pass. It was here in this narrow pass that we walked a few paces. It was interesting to think on all the thousands of hardy people that walked this pass before me. There are no \u201cWAGON RUTS\u201d here the ground is to soft, the sand and small rocks picked up by the wagons and thousands of feet, both man and animal, were just blown a way by the ever present wind so all that remains is a 6 ft deep cut in earth. Most wagons had 4-6 oxen and the larger freight wagons may have had as many as 20 oxen pulling the heavy loads.<\/p>\n
We were fortunate in that the wind was not blowing so hard that we had to lean forward just to keep from being blown over or that it wasn\u2019t raining and the ankle deep mud was not pulling at our shoes with each step. These are just 2 of the many hardships the pioneers had to endure on their westward trek.<\/p>\n
The pioneers had to wait in line for their turn to travel up and over the pass. Sometimes 200-300 wagons a day would travel through the pass. You couldn\u2019t give up your place in line for anything, you might never be allowed back in the line.<\/p>\n
The vistas are stunning from the top.<\/p>\n
The area was much more interesting than I first imagined. I don\u2019t know about back then but now the only trees were growing on the steep sides of the hills. At different high places in the surrounding area, the pioneers would climb to some high point and carve their names in to the soft rock, sadly most of the names have been eroded away by wind and rain.<\/p>\n\n\t\t