American Falls, Idaho

Location: Massacre Rocks State Park; American Falls, Idaho (elev. 4,350 feet)

all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 cell phone

Thru Stop #9

I'm a day late at making this post but I just rested up yesterday and didn't do much. The weather was nice and the scenery peaceful, so I just shut down for a day. 

The trip up from Green River went through a lot of various landscape. I passed through the dry desert-like areas just north of Green River to the big city of Salt Lake City and then through vast cultivated fields. It was a long haul of 350+ thinking miles. I used the trip to think about which route I will take back to Louisiana since Idaho was my destination and I've reached it. I still have a little bit of thinking to do on the subject, but there is still time. 

I figure a lot of readers are getting tired of these travel pictures, but I know they will really spark my memory when I look back on them in future. I know this because the road pictures I took years ago spark good memories for me when I look at them now. 

This is just north of Green River. Still desert-like.

Strange formations everywhere. I have no clue how that originally developed. I can clearly see the erosion that is taking place. A long time ago, did it look like Devils Tower looks now? And if so, I wonder what Devils Tower looked like back then. I should have taken more geology classes in college. 

Scrub brush/mini-trees started showing up later on.

There is stretch where the road winds its way through these small hills. 

After passing through those small hills, the landscape changes to a more green-ish land. It's as if you just walked through a door.

The mountains start getting a little bigger

There are a couple of steep grades you have to pass over but nothing very big although the state did place passing lanes when needed. Notice the change in mountains again. They are getting roughing, more jagged and taller. This is about 2 hours from when I started the day.

The sky started its show.

The cultivated fields with houses.

This was a very large blackened area. I think it may have been from the wildfires of last year. This picture only captured about a fourth of what you could see from the road. It looked to have stopped at the edge of a cultivated field. Maybe the field was a natural fire-break.

I like these types of pictures and post them often. Each time I see the road like this,,,,it reminds me of ,,,, "the road goes on forever, but the journey never ends". Something like that..:)

An old home place. Judging from the looks of it, I would guess early 1900's. There was no road leading to it so I assume the construction of the Interstate may have bought them out. I've seen places like this all over the mid-west and now in northern Utah.

I was surprised at the size of the hay fields. It may have been something else, but I'm just calling it hay. 

The beauty of having the cell phone camera sitting next to me. I was able to take a picture of this sign. I wonder if Gretel is waiting of him in the valley? But, unfortunately for Hansel, there isn't any services. I guess he made her mad. 

More hay.

Large hay bales stacked up for the winter. I'm guessing they must be on their second cutting. I wonder how many cuttings they get per year.

Another "long, lonesome highway".

This is a great state park and I think I have the best campsite in the whole park. The Oregon Trail runs right through here and wagon ruts can still be seen. The name of the park, "massacre rocks", is a little misleading. At first I thought there may have been a massacre from the past that occurred around here. Nope, actually the name comes from the people who traveled the Oregon Trail. When they reached this area with all of the large rocks laying around they believed there were Indians behind each rock just waiting to massacre them, so in their diaries, they called the place "Massacre Rocks". 

First view of the Snake River in Idaho

My campsite overlooking the Snake River. Of the more than 250 different campsites I've stayed in over the years, this one ranks up there in the top 10.

Looking up the Snake River

My view as I was drinking my morning coffee

I'll be here for four days. I timed it just right because the cost of the campsite is half price for Mondays thru Thursday for Seniors. That makes it as good as a Passport America campground. Even with this half price, the campground is less than half full. When I was talking to the camphost, he said the park usually fills up on the weekends. It is a nice peaceful place to let time catch up to.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.