Many days on the road trip are living the dream…but living the childhood dream!? That was my day going to Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming and seeing real wagon ruts remaining from the Oregon Trail.
I loved the Oregon Trail computer game growing up (I still do – we even have a card game of it now (our affiliate link)) and I got a t-shirt from one of the museums on our way around the country. Of course, I forgot to wear it that day *Insert Face Palm Here*. But, that didn’t dampen my joy of seeing all the cool locations in real-life.
Fort Laramie National Historic Site
First up was visiting Fort Laramie National Historic Site, a classic stop along the Oregon Trail video game.
There are a large collection of reconstructed buildings and original ruins on site – over 22 spots to learn about and explore. It was really hot the day I went; thankfully the park has several water refill stations, so bring your water bottle and stay hydrated. Any good Oregon Trail player knows how easy it is to end up as a tombstone along the journey.
There are also some ranger-led talks about the life at Fort Laramie. Speaking of the rangers, the National Park Rangers and staff in the gift shop and museum were very helpful and it’s from them that I found out about the real wagon ruts in the town nearby.
Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site
Once I finished seeing and learning all about the site at Fort Laramie, I drove the 20 minutes to Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site. There’s a short, circular trail, that takes you up and around to see the wagon ruts that remain in the rock face. There are also interesting signs and information along the walk. It was a little steep in places, even though it’s paved, so just make sure you have your water with you there too.
I loved seeing the route that the early pioneers took, even though their settlement and colonization of North America is problematic. To see something that was a real part of history, that’s mostly been lost to progress and/or erosion from the elements, was really interesting to me.
Register Cliff State Historic Site
Register Cliff State Historic Site reminded me of El Morro National Monument. It’s definitely been less well preserved and without the booklet the NPS provided at El Morro, it was much harder to find many of the older inscriptions. But, you could see a small area through the grass that was where the old wagon ruts went through this area and past Register Cliff too.
It’s way out there – about 1.5 hours from Cheyenne where we were staying – but it was worth the day trip to go and see both the Fort Laramie National Historic Site and the original wagon ruts and inscriptions from the Oregon Trail.
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