Idaho

The City of Rocks National Reserve is a National Historic Landmark associated with the mass overland westward migration. Emigrants traveling the California Trail would reach Circle Creek in the City of Rocks and nooned or camped. Some of these emigrants left their names on the rocks along the trail within the Reserve. The reserve is a great place to view wildlife along the trail.

Hooper Springs , the most famous of the area's soda springs, is one of several natural fountains in the area that emigrants considered to be one of the marvels of the Oregon Trail. Hooper Springs was noted for its picturesque scenery and its cold, naturally carbonated water spring. Emigrants added flavorings to this water to create natural soda-fountain drinks.

Massacre Rocks State Park received its name from a grouping of boulders that created a narrow break through which the Oregon Trail passed. Emigrants, fearing that American Indians might be waiting in ambush, named the boulders "Massacre Rocks." Skirmishes between emigrants and Shoshone Indians did occur in August 1862, but these took place east of the park. The state park still contains visible trail ruts.

Oregon Trail Park and Marina contains a short segment of original Oregon Trail wagon swales. The Trail, marked by white carsonite markers, heads up from the park's lake, Alexander Reservoir, and crosses the park's entrance road. Look for the swales in the grass on either side of the entrance road near its junction with U.S. 30.

Remnants of the Oregon and California Trails can be found by continuing on the trail at Massacre Rocks Rest Area to the historical site . To reach this site, walk past the Snake River overlook and through the tunnel that goes underneath both lanes of the interstate highway. When you exit the tunnel, follow the trail to right. It will take you first to a series of interpretive wayside exhibits on Oregon Trail history.

Massacre Rocks Rest Area (Westbound) is located next to the Oregon and California Trails. Hundreds of thousands of emigrants passed through this area on their way to Oregon in the mid-1800s. In 1862, American Indians, possibly in collaboration with white men, attacked two wagon trains in this area. Today, this location is a rest area for travelers on westbound I-86.

John Lane was representative of how 1800s emigrants, miners, and travelers viewed the California Trail. To them, it was more of a road to follow, rather than a once-in-a-lifetime journey. Lane traveled either the Oregon Trail or the California Trail five different times during his life. But, Lane was not representative of the average trail traveler, which is only known from how he was buried.

The year 1858 saw the first US government sponsored road (trail) for the emigrant routes to Oregon and California. This road was a cutoff that provided trail travelers with a new, and 60 miles shorter, route between South Pass, Wyoming and Fort Hall, Idaho. It only took one year to make this 256 mile route, which soon became named after the person in charge of constructing it- Frederick W Lander.

Geyser Park includes a gray-orange mound- one of the original soda springs described by passing emigrants- and a captive geyser that erupts every hour on the hour. This "luke-cool" geyser was released when drillers seeking hot water for mineral baths unintentionally tapped into an artesian well. Now, it is a developed site with interpretive exhibits that tell the area's story.