Independence Rock
Monday, August 31, 2009 Little America, WY We had all the hatches battened down, the toad hooked up, and the bus-house rolling out of our camp at Alcova before 9am this morning. Besides being a bit anxious to get going again we were motivated by predictions of strong westerly winds later in the day, and thought it'd be good for the diesel fuel budget to get as much of the drive in before the headwinds really kicked up. But just about 26 miles from camp we found Independence Rock, a famous landmark used by westward travelers during the great migration of the 1840's, 50's, and 60's. WY-220 runs right past it and there is a large but little utilized wayside right at the Rock. We parked the bus-house and hiked over to see what we could learn. From a distance it looks like the top half of a freshly baked loaf of bread. It's 1900 feet long, 850 feet wide, and about 130 feet high. Made out of solid granite, it's really the top of a mountain that was buried by erosio