September 3, 2020
Register Cliff
Black Canyon Point Campground Guernsey, Wyoming Day 2
My early walk.
Later in the morning we drove to the end of the park and took a hike on a fire road. There was a steep incline up to the plateau and then lots of prairie. We found a footpath the took us to the rim where we could see the lake below and the rocky cliffs on the other side of the water.
A memorial on the high point.
This afternoon we went to Register Cliff. The first people to mark this rock were Native Americans. Eons ago, pictographs and petroglyphs were painted and etched here. They have long since faded and been erased by the people who traveled in the many years since. Fur traders carved their names in this stone face in the 1830’s. This was a stopping place on the Oregon Trail and it became a rite of passage to write your name in the sandstone. It became a register of the emigrants on their trip along the North Platte River. In more recent time, travelers and tourists of all sorts have added their names, writing over the records and words of those before them.
The oldest etchings are protected by the chain-link fence.
The cemetery here holds the graves of those whose journeys were cut short. The river crossings were particularly dangerous.
Cliff swallow nests.
The Pony Express also used this route.
This was a place, alive with history. Perhaps, there are families in Utah and Oregon whose ancestors’ names are here in this cliff. These names represent real people in their quest for a brighter future. I remember as a young child being enchanted with the stories of the pioneers of the west…I am enchanted still. The challenges they faced, the courage that it took, the harsh living conditions…all for a better life for their children. To take that journey and know wholeheartedly that you are never going back to your old life or your family. It is inspiring. The very sad part of this story is what happened to the Native Americans as white men made their way west. This part of the story cannot be changed but it can be remembered and honored. We chose tonight’s quote from Sitting Bull.
The weather forecast here for the next several days…crazy fluctuations in temperature…and snowflakes!!
The sun went to bed in a beautiful but less dramatic fashion this evening.
