June 27, 2023
I decided to stay in Ogallala, Nebraska because it was a good jumping off point to see many sites along The Oregon Trail. The end of the day will be Fort Laramie and a little beyond that.
First activity of the day: California Hill. This hill was not mentioned in the book, but it has been said that you could see wagon ruts here, and I wanted to see some wagon ruts. I could not see any ruts. This is a very long and laborious hill that most every traveler on the Oregon Trail had to endure. After this point, traveling parties would head north and begin following the North Platte River, which was a more northwesterly path. It was a good thing it had not rained in some time, I would have gotten stuck in the mud on a very rutted unmaintained dirt county road. That’s the only ruts I saw. I was headed back to the highway and I accidentally ran over a rattlesnake. It was like, “What’s that? Oh it’s a…oops” I think it was a rattlesnake. It was big enough to be one.
