Let's Go to Guernsey!

I've been dying to get outside and enjoy the nice weather we've been having this week, unfortunately, working nights means that I have to choose either sleep or getting my nature fix.  I've been going on walks around town, but I have been craving wide open spaces.  Thankfully, there is a place only about 30 minutes from where I live that has the capacity to satisfy my desire for the great outdoors.  Guernsey.  If just the name makes you think, "Wow, that sounds like a small town;" it is.  But Guernsey is home to several historic sites and a gorgeous state park.

 

The park has some beautiful views of the mountains and the reservoir, trails to hike, and even a "castle."  

 

Well, the castle is actually just a picnic shelter, but it's pretty cool.

Here are some views from the trail.

(No worries Mom, my feet are barely hanging over the edge of that bluff.)

And then a little further on I saw something that made me turn around...

 

Besides a lovely, if slightly disturbing state park, Guernsey also has the distinction of being part of the Oregon Trail.  There are actually ruts that were cut into the stones by the wagon caravans that came through.  

Guernsey is also home to the Cliffs of Insanity...

Oh wait no, that's something else. Guernsey is home to Register Cliff, a sandstone cliff that settlers carved their names into to commemorate their travels or to serve as notifications to family members who might be coming later that they had made it this far.

I know they're a little hard to read, but most of these were dated in the 1830s and 40s. There were some older, but since I had to just hold my camera over the fence and hope for the best, this is what you get.

As I was leaving Register Cliff I noticed a little monument on the side of the road and discovered even more history.  This was apparently the site of a Pony Express Station at one time. 

All in all the presence of so much history in such a small place is pretty impressive..and since I'm obsessed with the Wyoming sky and have officially taken 6 million pictures of it, I'm going to tag one on at the end here, feast your eyes on this!

The End.