Robert Stuart Trail 1812 — 1813

Day 18: August 29th, 2007 Pocatello

It is completely unfamiliar to me to not check out the first thing in the morning but to immediately drive to having breakfast. Yesterday I saw a Denny’s when I arrived here. This is where I have breakfast today. The service is excellent and also the food is good. I pay and drive over to the Shell gas station nearby.

Around a quarter to ten I am traveling on I–86 back to Massacre Rock State Park. After driving 20 miles to the west I see a Sinclair gas station, which announces a gas price 7 Cent less than what I payed at the Shell gas station!

Around half past ten I arrive at the State Park. There are many hiking trails. First, I drive to the farthest point, which should also take me to the old Oregon Trail ruts from the covered wagons.

These are not close to the Snake River. First, you must go through a small tunnel under I–86 to reach the other side of the Interstate. Then I arrive at the ruts, which look like regular washouts. But probably this soil erosion was caused by all the wagon treks running through this area. In some spots, they are more than 3 feet deep!

Because I already caught a slight sun burn on my hiking yesterday I better put a factor 12 sunscreen on immediately. Around half past twelve I am back at my truck from the first hike. There I have my last apple as lunch and I refill the water supplies in my backpack.

Finally I put an additional layer of sunscreen on before I start my hike on T3 along the Snake River. Later this trail joins with T5. Both hiking trails offer picturesque views of the Snake River. This is definitely one of the highlights on my journey! But the sun is also burning without mercy and I assume temperatures are in the 90s.

Around 3pm I am again at the park entrance area and resign from hiking further on. I decide to walk back to my car on the road, also in the hope that someone drives by just by chance and picks me up. Unfortunately this hope will not be fulfilled. So I arrive an hour later at my car completely exhausted.

There, I first drink a whole bottle of Gatorade. After that I feel way better. I leave the park and quickly drive over to Register Rock. There the people from the wagon trails signed in.

Unfortunately this rock is so badly fenced in, that it is impossible to get a nice shot. Therefore I skip taking pictures and video and continue my drive on the smaller parallel road to the Interstate in easterly direction.

At the branch to Eagle Rock I use again the opportunity to enjoy the great views of the Snake River from there. Indeed, the rain hast left some bigger puddles of water — in contrast to last year. So I am able to drive viewy through some of them. Finally I arrive again down at the river bed. Like last year I am able to get some beautiful pictures and videos of the Snake River. But slowly I must leave again. So I pack my camera in and drive back to the main road — whereas I could not resist to video tape one of the puddle crossings from the outside…

On the parallel running road to the Interstate I drive, like last year, to the American Falls Dam. Because I have already video taped everything in this area last year, I just drive over the dam and back.

Then I drive on I–86 once again to Pocatello. Around 6pm I am back at my motel. There I first check my video taping of today. Then I drive over to Wal–Mart and buy some bottled water and apples. Around half past seven I have everything together and I drive over to Applebee’s. Once again, I get a very huge dinner portion. This time I even receive a whole big booth for just me alone! Around a quarter to nine I pay and drive back to my motel. When I arrive there, I do my usual book keeping, enter the next GPS coordinates for tomorrow and listen to my CDs while doing this…