US Highway 20
From Casper, Wyoming to Newport, Oregon

Sometime in the late 1940s my parents decided to visit my grandparents in California. The only part of the trip from Wisconsin I remember was being pulled over by a police officer in Cody, Wyoming. I think we drove through Yellowstone National Park. But like many trips in those days it was goal oriented – get there as fast as possible. Now, with interstate highways, motoring from here to there is even faster. But I think we miss much of the history, ecology, people, and places that make our country special. So here’s the plan – gather the kids and/or grandkids, adopt a different mind set, and take time to mine U.S. Highway 20 for its many hidden gems.(...continued from the Summer ‘06 issue.)

Day One
Wyoming is a geologist’s paradise. On a road trip across the state on Highway 20 the craggy mountains and intriguing striations of rock show eons of time in earth’s geologic history. We learned along the way that Wyoming is the second largest state in the U.S. and it is also the least populated.

We continue our trip across Wyoming west toward the Oregon coast fr omCasper, WY at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/NHTIC.html. We had ended the first leg of our Highway 20 journey here to Casper. The interpretive center has added a stage coach ride, not as bumpy as you’d see in a movie western but realistic enough for the kids to enjoy. Summer hours 8 A.M. to 7 P.M., winter 9 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Tuesday through Saturday. Adults $6, less for seniors, students, youth, and children 3 to 5.

Next, we visited Fort Caspar Museum (www.fortcasparwyoming.com) on the North Platte River where a small fort, Platte Bridge Station, housed soldiers who protected the area in early pioneer days. Skirmishes with local native tribes resulted in the death of Lt. Caspar Collins. The fort was named for him and was later rebuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It contains artifacts and replicas of army life and in the nearby museum you can learn the history of the town, browse descriptions of oil drilling, and see the replica of a sheepherder’s wagon. Adults $2.

When we first crossed the eastern border of Wyoming we stopped in Lusk and visited the Stage Coach Museum. Here we saw what the early prospectors rode on their treks up to the gold fields in the Black Hills.

Driving along Interstate 25 near Douglas see if the kids can spot the large silhouette of the jackalope, a mythical western critter supposedly half antelope and half jackrabbit! You’ll also spot long coal trains riding the rails from open pit coal mines north of Douglas. Coal from these Thunder Basin coal fields ultimately produces electricity for families from Minnesota to Atlanta, GA.

\In the town of Casper you can pause to visit museums and take side trips along the Oregon- California-Mormon-Pony Express Trail to Independence Rock and to the Mormon Handcart Visitors Center (www.casperwyoming.info/mormon.php). Some of the names etched into Independence Rock are replicated at the entrance to the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center (http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/NHTIC.html).

Day Two
On the way to Thermopolis, WY you can imagine the native tribes, early trappers, and U.S. Cavalry soldiers traveling through the desolate high desert area. At Hell’s Half Acre, a miniature Grand Canyon, native tribal members in early days herded buffalo over the rim in order to gain meat and hides. This geologic oddity is a craggy horseshoe-shaped gorge that drops some 150 feet from the flat plain. The 320-acre gorge spreads south and is filled in one section with jagged rock spires sculpted by the Powder River. Alien bug planet scenes for the movie Starship Troopers (1997) were filmed here. You can park at the entrance and walk to the edge of the canyon to see the gnarled rock spires.

Finally we meet the Wind River and follow it up the Wind River Canyon. Notice the signs and turn-outs where you can stop to marvel at the interesting geologic formations revealed by the Wind River. You’ll see the Precambrian granite, gneiss, and schist formed some 2 billion years ago. Next, Cambrian shale topped by bright red Triassic siltstone, then Cretaceous layers of sandstone and shale, and, finally, Tertiary volcanic rock merging to shale and sandstone.

The town of Thermopolis, a fine place to pause awhile, features the Wyoming Dinosaur Center & Dig Sites (www.wyodino.org), Dancing Bear Folk Center, Hot Springs County Historical Museum, Hot Springs County Museum, and Old West Wax Museum. At Hot Springs State park you and the kids can soak in the hot spring waters in several locations. Check with the Thermopolis Visitor Information Center (www.thermopolis.com), for lodging and eateries in the area.

Day Three
Here travelers can take the Highway 120 short cut to Cody, WY or continue on Highway 20 which follows the Big Horn River to first visit Worland in Washakie County. Worland is named for its founder, Charles Worland, who established the Hole-in-the-Wall Saloon. In earlier days this was a favorite watering place for Butch Cassidy and his gang of outlaws. Notice in the center of town the statue of a pioneer woman spreading seeds. This depicts the efforts of Charles Worland and the early pioneer men and women who dug irrigation canals and brought water into the Big Horn Basin. This irrigation water transformed the dry desert into a farming and ranching oasis in the Worland and Greybull areas.

Just a few miles northeast of Greybull the Howe Dinosaur Quarry shows where, in the 1930s, an Allosaurus skeleton was uncovered – a precursor of the Tyrannosaurus rex. Just west of town is the Greybull Museum of Flight, which appears from the highway to be an airplane graveyard. You’ll see a number of large airplanes parked next to the runway.

Signs along Highway 20, as you come to Cody, identify the area as part of the Bozeman Trail. The town was named after Buffalo Bill Cody and by 1902 the town was incorporated. Buffalo Bill opened a hotel named for his youngest daughter, Irma and it remains a restaurant and hotel
for travelers (www.irmahotel.com). Pick up a copy of “Cody Country Magazine” from the Visitor Information Center (www.codychamber.org) and plan your visit to include the Shoshone Dam and Reservoir now called The Buffalo Bill Dam.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center on Cody’s main street is a good stop for western history buffs (www.bbhc.org). Adults $15 with lower rates for seniors, youth, and children

Over the Fourth of July the town of Cody offers lively rodeos every night along with a big stampede. If you and the kids haven’t overdosed on frontier life, check out Old Trail Town on the way out of Cody to see the grave of John “Liver Eating” Johnson better known from the film as Jeremiah Johnson. Worland’s Hole- in-the-Wall cabin is also on the site.

Day Four
From Cody Highway 20 climbs along the North Fork of the Shoshone River and Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir to Yellowstone National Park. Highway 20 temporarily ends here but resumes at the park’s west portal.

We pass through several tunnels carved out of the Precambrian rock of Rattlesnake Mountain. Passing numerous hot springs along the river we begin to notice odors from the various chemicals in the steaming waters, which smells like sulphur and rotten eggs. Some 50 million years ago volcanic mountains in the region erupted depositing thick, muddy mixtures of rock and ash debris across the area. Over eons wind and water erosion then created unusual castle-like forms called “hoodoos” out of this residue.

Yellowstone National Park is a fascinating experience in nature’s geologic wonderland so be sure to take time to stop and visit the many bubbling hot springs (look for signs and turn-outs), see Old Faithful erupt in a steaming column near Old Faithful Lodge (lots of parking available here), walk easy trails to scenic waterfalls, and ogle at the wildlife.

Once inside the park plan a full day’s exploration. Maps provided at the Ranger Station show that most sites are on loop roads off the main roadway. Be patient because the going is slow and there are lots of travelers just like you and your family in the park, all ogling at herds of buffalo, antelope, and elk in addition to occasional bears. Do not feed the animals. For lodging and eateries in the area check the park’s web site and stop at Visitor Information Centers and Ranger Stations along the way and in West Yellowstone.

Leaving the park by way of the West Portal via Highway 20 travelers pass through West Yellowstone, Montana and then continue west into Idaho crossing the Continental Divide at Targhee Pass (7,072-ft. elevation). From Henry’s Lake State Park to Island Park you’ll pass through pine tree country and the route also is dotted with numerous convenience stores, eateries, gas stations, and campgrounds. The route runs along a 2 million year old caldera, the remains of a collapsed volcano. Past Island Park a 25-mile side loop on Highway 47 takes travelers to scenic Mesa Falls. Returning to Highway 20 at Ashton, you return to the high desert area. Ashton is famous for its Russet Burbank seed potatoes. Rexsburg, originally a Mormon town, now caters to summer travelers and offers an antique wooden carousel at Porter Park. The former Rexsburg Tabernacle, on the National Register of Historic Sites, offers a museum that explains the 1976 flood when the earth filled Teton Dam broke and wiped out most of the town.

Day Five
At Idaho Falls, Idaho, Highway 20 meets and leaves Interstate 15 known as the gold road which followed the route to the gold fields in the north. Along Highway 20 the terrain turns from potato farms back to sagebrush and lava rock. The Oregon Trail met the Snake River at Fort Hall south of Idaho Falls. Several alternate routes served the early emigrants including Goodale’s Cutoff which turns north from Fort Hall and connects with U.S. Highway 20. In those days the cut-off journey took two to three weeks and for some 50 years westbound pioneers used it. Later, miners moving ore to railroad depots and stagecoaches carrying passengers to southern Idaho towns also took Goodale’s Cutoff.

The town of Arco, Idaho, originally a stage stop, is hoping for redevelopment of its National Reactor Testing Station, renamed the Idaho National Laboratory. At the Pickle Palace Café in Arco, home of the “atomic burger,” locals stop for morning coffee and discuss getting jobs at the lab if employment increases there.

As we approach Craters of the Moon (www.nps.gov/crmo) the terrain becomes a sea of three lava flows, cinder cones, lava tubes, and sage brush covering nearly 500,000 acres. The expanded Monument and Preserve are co-managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The area was used for training the Apollo astronauts before their space flight to the moon. Pause at the Visitors Center to see interpretive programs and geologic exhibits. There is a charge for entrance and for camping. A 7-mile loop road leads to various sites including a lava cave, lava tubes, and trails for hiking and bicycling.

At Carey, we continue west on Highway 20 to Picabo which is noted for trout fishing and the Nature Conservancy site at Silver Creek. Travelers then cross Highway 75, which heads either north about 30 miles to the resort communities of Hailey, Ketchum, and Sun Valley or south about 50 miles to the city of Twin Falls on Interstate 84. The town of Hailey offers numerous lodging accommodations and eateries.

Continuing west on Highway 20 travelers pass through the small towns of Fairfield and Hill City and then continue over 5,527-ft. Cat Creek Summit and angle south to the city of Mountain Home on Interstate 84.

Continue from here to Boise, the major city in this section of southern Idaho. Boise also offers lodging accommodations and a host of eateries. For camping and hiking be sure to check with either the Mountain Home Visitor Information Center or the Boise Visitor Information Center (www.boise.org) to obtain maps and road information before heading off the beaten path.

In Boise, pause and visit the splendid Basque Museum (www.basquemuseum.com), which celebrates the culture of the Basque peoples who came to live in the area from southern Europe. Also, visit the Idaho Botanical Gardens found on the grounds of the former Idaho Penitentiary. Check at the Boise Visitor Center (www.boise.org) for directions to the Oregon Trail Historic Reserve where you and the kids can walk a 1-mile trail to view wagon ruts made by the pioneer wagons.

Day Six
From Boise head west on Interstate 84 and cross into Oregon at Ontario where you can rejoin Highway 20. You could also detour at the large Visitor Information Center just west of Boise, off I-84, for maps and helpful information before entering Oregon. To learn more about the various cultures of the region stop in Ontario to visit the Four Rivers Cultural Center (www.4rcc.com), which offers exhibits and information about the northern Paiute tribe and also the Basque, Spanish, and Japanese cultures whose descendents live in the Treasure Valley area. If time allows stop at the Ontario Visitor Center (www.ontariochamber.com, 541-889-8012), also located at the cultural center, for information about lodging and eateries in the area.

Continuing west on Highway 20 from Ontario, we see wide irrigated fields of onions and other vegetables on our way to the small town of Vale. Park in the downtown area and take a walking tour to see a number of colorful murals painted on the buildings’ exteriors. The murals, designed and painted by local artists and volunteers, depict scenes from the Oregon Trail journey. At the Malheur Crossing marker located between the bridges on the east edge of Vale, notice the deep ruts left by the heavy pioneer wagons as they pulled up the grade after crossing the river. The pioneers entered what is now Oregon at old Fort Boise, Idaho just a few miles east of Nyssa. The fort was a fur trading post established in 1834 by the British Hudson’s Bay Company.

Continuing west on Highway 20 we pass the hamlet of Juntura and come to the larger town of Burns (www.harneycounty.com). Taking only two hours or so to drive from Vale to Burns this same trip in early days took two full days and one night for the stagecoaches to complete. If time allows, stop for picnic supplies and beverages in Burns and then head south on Highway 78 about 40 miles to visit the Malheur Wildlife Refuge (www.r1.fws.gov/malheur). At refuge headquarters on the south shore of Malheur Lake stop for maps and information and also visit the George M. Benson Memorial Museum where you can see mounted specimens of more than 200 different migratory birds. On the refuge drive slowly and remain on posted roadways; your vehicle makes a good observation and photographic blind for watching the wildlife. This will allow you and the kids to ogle at dozens of species of water birds and water fowl that arrive and depart via the Pacific Flyway. Also ask about the Kiger Mustang Viewing Area near Diamond and ghost towns in the area. To stay overnight in this primeval high desert area far off the beaten path, you could arrange rooms at tiny Frenchglen Hotel (541-493-2825) or at Hotel Diamond (www.central-oregon.com/hoteldiamond; 541-493-1898) both located in hamlets near the refuge. You can also check out numerous accommodations and pleasant eateries in Burns.

Day Seven
Gas up in Burns and continue west on Highway 20 another couple of hours to the large resort town of Bend. Hosted by numerous lodging alternatives and dozens of eateries, browse (www.visitbend.com), there are several places to visit in the Bend area before continuing west on Highway 20 toward Sisters. As time allows, visit the splendid Oregon High Desert Museum just 5 miles south of Bend via Highway 97; five miles farther south stop for more volcanic exhibits, wide vistas of the Cascade Mountains, and nature trails at Lava Butte and Lava Lands Visitor Center (541-493-2421); and, if you can spend the entire day and stay overnight in the Bend area, be sure to take snacks and beverages and walk the self guided trail at Lava River Cave in Lava River Caves State Park just south of Lava Butte (wear sweaters or coats and pick up lanterns at the entry); then head a short distance south of here and about 10 miles east of Sunriver Resort on a Forest Service road to enjoy the self guided trail at Lava Cast Forest. Plan a couple of hours for each of these splendid outdoor adventures before returning to Bend.

Day Eight
From Bend head west again on Highway 20 and pause to see the western style town of Sisters. The friendly town offers shops, cafes, bakeries, and coffee shops along the main street (Highway 20) as well as on several side streets. From here continue west on Highway 20 and climb to 4,817-ft. Santiam Pass dropping down toward the Willamette Valley and passing through the towns of Sweet Home and Lebanon. At Lebanon detour onto Highway 34, cross over Interstate 5, and rejoin Highway 20 at Corvallis. From here continue west on Highway 20 to Philomath and continue west another 50 miles or so over the low Coast Range to Toledo and Newport on the Oregon coast. Highway 20 ends here and deposits travelers onto U.S. 101, which extends along the Pacific Ocean north toward Lincoln City and Astoria and south toward Bandon, Gold Beach, and Brookings. Portland can be accessed from Lincoln City using Highway 18 heading east toward McMinnville and Newberg.

In Newport be sure to visit the Historic Bayfront area with its fish processing plants and eateries as well as the renovated Historic Nye Beach District. Also visit Yaquina Bay State Park and Yaquina Bay Lighthouse just north of town. The Oregon Coast Aquarium (www.aquarium.org) is just south of town near the Yaquina Bay bridge and offers splendid underwater views of sea life as well as open pools for sea otters and seals.

At the nearby Hatfield Marine Science Center you and the kids can see more sea creatures including a live octopus and touching tank filled with sea anemones, starfish, and other live sea life. Plaques and exhibits share history and information about members of the Siletz Indian tribe who were forced from their native lands on the coast but who now live in the area, their tribal status being resumed in the late 1970s. For a host of lodgings and friendly eateries in the Newport area, browse www.discovernewport.com.

By traveling Highway 20, one of the nation’s ‘blue highways,’ you and the kids can fully appreciate the vast and diverse geography, terrain, and history that reach from the Midwest to the Pacific Ocean. From the glacier-sculpted Midwest to the flat prairies of Iowa and Nebraska, from the high desert of Wyoming to the immense and craggy Rocky Mountains, and from the forests and volcanic deserts of Idaho west to the high lava lands desert of Central Oregon and the lush Willamette Valley, travelers find their final sunset at the Pacific Ocean near Newport on the central Oregon coast. You can imagine the native peoples, the early fur trappers, and the Indian and deer trails. Then, later, you can help the kids learn about the emigrant trails, wagon trains, and the railroads reaching west and taking over the native lands. You can help them remember the cowboys, the ranchers, and farmers as well as the Cavalry soldiers, the buffalo, and the Native tribes displaced from their campgrounds and villages. And you can help the kids learn to appreciate and help save the vast and scenic wonders along historic Highway 20.


More Information:

Wyoming Bureau of Tourism (www.wyomingtourism.org)
Idaho Tourism (www.visitid.org)
Oregon Bureau of Tourism (www.traveloregon.com)

Books for you and the kids
“How Mountains Are Made” for beginner readers. “The Earth Origins” and “Evolution” for young readers. “The Visual Dictionary of the Earth” and “The Amateur Geologist” for older readers.

Trip Ideas
Set up a 3-ring binder for each of the kids with notebook paper, pocket dividers, and maps. Have them list interesting names, European and Native American, as well as names of towns and cities along the route.

Encourage your kids to ask questions and to look for information on the internet about places they will visit such as Yellowstone National Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, and the Oregon Coast. Help them follow the route on their maps you pick up at Visitor Information Centers and Welcome Centers along the way.

Your kids will enjoy making new friends along the route, exchanging names and contact information.


-- Perry Treadwell has published several books of history including Grandfather Stories about his experiences of farm life as a boy during the '30s and '40s. During the '60s, he and his wife packed their four children into a cab-over pickup camper and crossed the U.S. to California and back across the Mississippi five times. The children still remember those excursions with some hilarity.

-- Myrna Oakley contibuted to the Oregon section of the Highway 20 article.