Independence Rock
While we were on our way home from our vacation to Utah this summer, we had the opportunity to stop in Wyoming and visit my lovely sister Sandra and her adorable family. One of the activities we did was to go and visit Independence Rock. I have always enjoyed going to Independence Rock. I am a huge lover of history and Independence Rock is one of the great pioneer historical sites in Wyoming. The rock was an important landmark for the pioneers coming West as it lies directly along the route of the pioneer trails and that emigrant wagon parties bound for Utah, Oregon or California, which usually left the Missouri River in the early spring, attempted to reach the rock by July 4, in order to reach their destinations before the first mountain snowfalls. During the period of westward emigration on the trail (from 1843 to 1869), it was common for emigrants to carve their names in the granite rock, especially near the summit. Other emigrants left behind messages, sometimes for parties b