Heritage Gateways

Margaret Clark Journals

June 7, 1997

Location: Guernsey, Wyoming - Location: 42:16:11N 104:44:28W Elevation: 4361 feet

Summary: Ft. Laramie to Guernsey; the walking of the 500

Journal entry: When I woke up the roof of my motorhome was bright orange. I pulled the curtain back on the window and the entire morning sky was bright orange. No pinks, magentas, or reds....just orange. And it was the whole sky. Well, of course I had to wake up Pam and Wendy. And you know how much they appreciated me waking them up. Just wait til I sing my morning song for them.

Well, today was a mob! It was a magnificent sight looking over camp this morning. Campers and trailers and tents everywhere. It was goosebump time for me. We rolled out at 7AM across Ft. Laramie and up onto the hills above the river. Our view for the entire day was up on the hills. We could look down on the river valley to the right and another body of water to the left. I don't know what it was. I am assuming the original wagons travelled up here because the river valley was full of water. The river is controlled now and doesn't flow over its banks very often, but back in the old days, I'm sure the lower areas were very wet and swampy.

We had over 500 people walking and pulling handcarts today and we just had a great time. The weather was beautiful. A soft breeze and sunny. A little hotter in the afternoon, but really a great day. There were a few places up on top you could see the actual, original trail. It is grown over with vegetation, but the ground is indented about the width of a wagon all along one area of the top.

I walked off into the brush with several others to see the trail and the mosquitoes came alive!! I guess they have hatched. It was awful! I wonder what it is going to be like down on the river tomorrow, cause up on top it was terrible. It you stayed on the road, it wasn't so bad, but getting off into the brush.....bad.

Somebody noticed a rattlesnake at break time and Joseph guarded it to make sure nobody got too curious. The flowers are really starting to come out and the recent rains have all the brush a beautiful green.

We came down off the top into Guernsey past Register Rock, the place where lots of the pioneers hiked up and signed their names. Then the trail dropped down into the valley. We camped near the Platte River near the golf course at the town arena. There were trees and plenty of places for the horses. The mosquitoes are out down here, too.

We were invited to shower at the school and the folks in town made a delicious dinner. We actually had a cooked vegetable for dinner! And they had my very favorite dinner in the whole world: sauerkraut and polish sausage. It was soooo good!

I spent a few hours in the souvenir wagon selling wagon train souvenirs. This is such a fun place to spend an evening! It is really neat to watch families come together to buy their trinkets and stuff. There's always a lot of bantering and fun. It's a great place to kid around with the children. Marjean and Jury are just a lot of fun. They are just perfect for this job.

I left at 8:00 and ran up to the laundromat and grocery store to get the weekly errands done. This is an important time for a lot of the walkers. Especially those who don't have cars. It's their only time to get their food for the week and wash their clothes.

Gosh, it's sure a good thing for us that the wind is blowing cause the mosquitoes are terrible. I wonder where I put the repellent. HappyNetTrekking!!!