The Road Home

Days 1 – 2, Richland, WA to Burley, ID

Another road trip begins.  We are going home.  If you have followed our blog you know that we have lived many places, and we’ve called all of them home.  But for this trip, home is used in the traditional sense . . . the places we grew up . . . Colorado for me, Michigan for Bob.  The plan is to make a big circular route and along the way we will visit family, friends, favorite familiar places, and hopefully meet new people and see new places.  Through the years we have made the trip from WA to CO many times but this will be my first road trip across the Midwestern US.  Come along for the ride!

The first big leg of the trip from WA to Southern Idaho roughly follows the Oregon Trail.  From the 1840 – 1880’s pioneer emigrants left their homes in what was then the western US and traveled from Missouri to Oregon’s Willamette Valley (some to CA) and faced unimaginable challenges.  They traveled by foot or wagon, faced starvation, disease, and the threat of crossing Indian territories.   One step at a time the settlers crossed the prairies, desert, and mountains.  www.nps.gov/oreg/index.htm

Our route mostly follows I-84, which parallels many of the old wagon trails.  The pioneers were headed to a new home, going northwest.  We are headed home, going southeast, opposite of the pioneers.  After crossing the Columbia River at the WA/OR border, the towns click by . . . Umatilla, Hermiston, and Pendleton, a quintessential Western town known for the Pendleton Roundup (www.pendletonroundup.com/)  and the Pendleton Woolen Mills (www.pendleton-usa.com/).

East of Pendleton, I-84 crosses the Umatilla Reservation, popular for the Wildhorse Casino and the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute (www.tamastslikt.org/).   It is the only Native American Museum along the entire route of the Oregon Trail, and honors the cultures of the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes.

We begin the steep climb up over Cabbage Hill/Emigrant Pass/Deadman Pass.  The names are interchangeable.  This was a popular stopping point for the pioneer settlers on the Oregon Trail and fear would often strike them when they saw the descent off the pass down to the valley 2000’ below. 

Lower slope of Emigrant Hill

The original Oregon Trail can still be followed by taking OR Hwy 30 and County Rd 937 down to Pendleton.  Even going up the pass, as we are, is a bit unnerving.  The grade is about 6% and the double hairpin curves are the tightest the interstate highway system allows.  We are thankful it is late summer and we are not concerned with treacherous road conditions.  No matter the time of the year, the pass leads into or out of the Blue Mountains depending upon the direction of travel.  This was the last obstacle of mountains for the emigrants traveling along the Oregon Trail.  For us, it is only the beginning and also a time of reflection.

Every time we have traveled from WA down to CO we cannot help but remember our moving trip from CO at Christmas time, 1985.  We drove in a caravan of three cars, with Bob leading the way to our new home in WA.  Amy, a newly licensed driver of barely sixteen, drove a little Honda hatchback with Shane and their German shepherd mix dog, Clementine.  The weather was horrible for the entire trip and the dog panted so much that the “kids” had to drive with the windows rolled open because the defrost couldn’t keep up.

Topping Emigrant Pass we head toward La Grande, the largest community in the Grande Ronde valley.  We’ve been making this trip for 30 years and for some reason La Grande always captured my attention.  It’s beautifully located at the base of the Blue Mountains with the Wallowa Mountains off to the northeast.  However, today we can’t see a thing!  Washington and Oregon states are burning ferociously and the smoke has filled every valley . . . we’ve also seen the scars from other wildfires earlier in the season.  Our hearts go out to the brave firefighters and the families who have lost so much. 

Smoke filled valley

Continuing along I-84, again parallel to the old Oregon Trail, we come to Baker City, which has a rich history in gold mining and timber.  In the early 1990s those industries had fallen by the wayside and the town made a decision to promote tourism.  It was a good decision . . . the Baker Historic District is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  A few miles east of Baker is the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretative Center, managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  This 500-acre site is well worth a visit.  There are several interpretative exhibits and activities making the NHOTIC a year around attraction, but in the summer exploring the miles of hiking trails is paramount.  There are marked trails, including one to actual wagon ruts that allow you to appreciate the arduous journey made by the pioneers.

Wagon encampment

 

Wagon wheel

Ontario lies along the Snake River at the Oregon/Idaho border.  I-84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail as it goes into southern ID but there were actually two different routes on either side of the Snake.  Over time, various splinter route trails were established in search of better grass for the oxen and cattle, and safer river crossings.  The Snake River is largely a “canyon” river and there was extreme danger in trying to cross the river.

While the pioneers mostly traveled this route during times of good weather, we remembered crossing the Snake in 1985 during one of the coldest longest winters ever.  The Snake, and the lesser Burnt River were jammed with ice and the temperatures well below zero.  Despite how treacherous our journey may have been I think we were much safer than the emigrant pioneers.

Our travels took a personal detour outside Boise, ID where we stopped to enjoy luncheon with some friends we hadn’t seen for some time.  They are not social media followers so we won’t divulge their names or specifics about their home but let it suffice to say that the afternoon was very enjoyable.  These friends have lived all over the world (former military) and chose to retire in Boise, which says a lot for the capital and most populous city in Idaho.  Combined with the state government sector, Boise has a thriving economy based in food processing, timber, and high-tech.  It also has made a significant investment in the arts and cultural activities such as ballet, opera, and symphony.

Continuing southeast along I-84 we cross the broad plain between the Boise foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the Owyhee Mountains.  While the route continues to follow the Oregon Trail across southern Idaho, today it is better known for the large USAF base at Mountain Home.  The pioneers drove their livestock and wagons across this plain but today we are driving while the Air Force planes fly overhead.

Just a short distance off I-84 is the town of Twin Falls, ID.  When driving into town you cross the Snake River and about five miles east is Shoshone Falls.  The Oregon Trail followed the south side of the Snake River and encountered Caldron Linn, Salmon Falls, and Shoshone Falls.  The Native Americans often traded salmon with the pioneers, a nice roadside treat!

Shoshone Falls, now a power plant

The Oregon Trail continues eastward across southern ID, WY, NE, and KS to its starting point in Independence, MO.  The pioneers traveling from Independence westward to the Willamette Valley, OR had a treacherous 2200-mile trek to establish new homes in the West.  There are several points of historic significance along the way and perhaps we will get to visit some of them on another journey.  But for now, we are turning south at Burley, ID to continue our journey home.