Fiery Sunrise

Every morning for the past week the morning sky has been filled with smoke from the forest fires in Oregon. The smoke has been streaming southward down to us blocking up the skies each day. This was yesterday's view of sunrise over the Mendocino Mountain Ranges east of Willits, Ca. God bless , chris

The Oregon Trail Ruts Park

One of the coolest sights from my recent vacation to Colorado and eastern Wyoming was a visit to Wagon Rut Park along the bluffs overlooking the North Platte River near Guernsey, Wyoming.Here the sandstone rocks show striking evidence of the thousands of wagons of emigrants headed west in the mid-1800s on the Oregon Trail to California and Oregon. Across the west you can find examples of wagon ruts left by the pioneers wagons but most most pale in view of those found at this park. Here, the trail ruts are just incredible because they are carved into solid rock.Some of the gouges are more than four feet deep! These deep cuts were the result of the passage of years of steel wagon rims and from intentional excavations by emigrants attempting to ease the steep climb up from the North Platte River bottom to the plains up above. A pretty amazing place especially when you think back to all of the pioneers that passed this way in the making of those ruts. What lives they must have led? God's love and blessings to all, chris