The Oregon Trail Journal

June 27 – We traveled from The Dalles to Barlow Pass around the south side of majestic Mt. Hood (11,235 ft. elevation). I got coordinates and photographs of Barlow Pass and Pioneer Woman’s Grave. The Pioneer Woman died on the Barlow Road and was buried in a simple wooden casket. People passing the site have placed stones on her grave over the years, slowly building a memorial.

I also got coordinates and photographs at the four graves site at Trillium Lake Loop Road Turnoff, Laurel Hill (two scree-covered 300 ft. chutes with 60-70 percent grade), Pioneer Burial Trailhead, and a replica of the original West Barlow Toll Gate used 1879-1915.

Samuel K. Barlow and Joel Palmer blazed the Barlow Road which wound around the south shoulder of Mt. Hood in 1845 as an alternative to the costly and dangerous Columbia River Route. But the road was not for the faint of heart. Roots and branches, fallen trees and logs, streams, sloughs and marshes, steep hills, etc. made the travel intolerable.

The last 100 miles were the most dangerous part of the Oregon Trail no matter which way the emigrants traveled.

We traveled to the Philip Foster Farm on Eagle Creek where we had a picnic lunch and then toured the buildings. This was the last stop for the emigrants before reaching Oregon City and the end of the Oregon Trail. Weary emigrants could rest, buy food, or eat one of Mrs. Foster’s home-cooked meals before traveling down the road.

We went to the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City, Oregon where I saw the exhibits, watched a presentation and saw a film.

We traveled to the Clarion Hotel near Portland International Airport along the Columbia River. We had a closing dinner. I received a poster for being the “weather person.” I wrote in my journal and went to bed.

After breakfast the next morning, I packed my luggage and traveled north across the Columbia River to my house in Vancouver, Washington. It took several days for me to catch up on my rest and get over the numerous mosquitoes, tick and other insect bites. But it was a great journey! I would do it again in a heartbeat. But my next trip is Missoula Ice Age Flood in mid-August.

-finis-