Oregon Trail Overlook

Trail paths are always fighting the desert, just as the earliest settlers and explorers discovered

Quick Facts

Location:

Bell Rapids Road Overlook West Side

Significance:

One of Two Overlooks on Monument grounds

Designation:

Overlook

Amenities

11 listed

Amphitheater, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information Kiosk/Bulletin Board, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Picnic Table, Restroom, Restroom - Accessible, Toilet - Vault/Composting, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Wheelchair Accessible

Short walks from the parking area (off the Bell Rapids road) are a combination of paved, gravel, and dirt pathways that lead to informational signs about the history and science of this landscape. You can view the ruts from the wagons who used these lands as one of the routes to Oregon during the great rush West. There are signs on the paths to explain some of the significance of the park. These signs coordinate with the park movie (seen in the Visitor Center in Hagerman) to detail what we know about the fossil beds and how that knowledge was discovered. Two accessible picnic tables with shade cover, and one pit toilet are located near the parking lot. There is also an outdoor covered small amphitheater with stone benches for special events and programs. Please be aware that there are no fossils on display on the park grounds, visit our Hagerman Visitor Center to see representative fossils. The parking lot is larger than the other overlook and RVs will find it suitable for a safe turn-around. Most visitors will return to Route 30 after seeing this overlook and the Snake River overlook as paved roads on the Monument grounds end near here.