A week and a half ago, we took the drive from Casper to Rawlins, Wyoming, a 125-mile drive that took about 2 hours. On this route, there are very few signs of civilization and even fewer rest areas. Independence Rock is one of these few places to stop.
Independence Rock was along the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails.
It's actually partly a myth that pioneers needed to be here by the 4th of July - as people traveled at all times of the year. It was a group of trappers camping here on Independence Day which gave the huge rock its name, but as a very prominent landmark, I'm sure the other meaning came to be important as well. You could feel good if you reached here by July 4th.
As you can see, the very unusual shape of this large rock made it a good landmark for travelers. Many of them left their signatures on the rock so that all could see they had made it this far at least.
I hope to check it out again when it is warmer and see if my ancestors left their mark along with all the others, some of them came over the Oregon Trail, so it's a distinct possibility.
There are walking trails at least up to the rock. Maybe this summer I'll get up there again to take some of the trails and get some pictures.
I love capturing flag pictures. Because flags have this annoying tendency to have to be in motion in order to be able to photograph it at all, they are a real challenge. It requires perfect timing and a lot of patience sometimes. I love these flags.
Read more about Independence Rock: Wyoming State Historical Preservation Office and Wikipedia
Photos taken by myself in March 2019 with my Pentax K30.
[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 42.493555 lat -107.132781 long Independence Rock d3scr)
Crossposted at Steem, Whaleshares and WeKu.
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
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