I had found out about some pioneer sites on the Internet that was considered "local" so we decided to try and find the sites. About 10 miles from Casper is a shallow pass though a ridge known as Emigrant Gap Ridge. This was the beginning of the pioneers gradual ascent up and over the Continental Divide. It gives you a grand, sweeping view and is marked by an interpretive panel. It's located on a gravel road that turned my black car white with the road dust.
Then we tried to follow directions to go to another sight to see wagon ruts, but ran up on private land and had to turn around. We did find some wagon ruts further down the road as the picture below shows starting at the upper right hand side and winding around to the left bottom part of the picture.
One of our stops today was at Bessemer Bend which was the last fording site of the North Platte River on the Oregon/Mormon trail. This was the river the emigrants had followed for hundreds of miles which turned south and became impassable. Toll ferries and bridges downstream were built, but people including the handcart companies who did not want to pay tolls, used Bessemer Bend as a low-water crossing. While there, Blaze decided she wanted to check out the river and jumped in! This is a nice place to have a picnic and fish and just enjoy the river setting.
On the way home, we discovered a road named "Goose Egg Road". We decided to explore it simply because of the name. That's when we discovered the Red Buttes which we could see from Bessemer Bend and are a bright brick red color. They also have interesting looking ridges. 
A four hour battle took place here in 1865 when a supply train led by Army troops was attacked by a large group of Indians. Only three soldiers survived and made it back to the fort.
So, a fun day was had by all, including the furry kids. (BTW...we live in Natrona County).
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