Monday, October 12, 2015

Hagerman Fossil Beds

On Saturday, I took the short drive to Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.  I turned off the interstate and took US 30 from Twin Falls to Hagerman.  It is ALWAYS a good idea to leave the interstate!  Soon after leaving the interstate, I crossed over the Snake River Canyon.

As I was driving down canyon, I came across a place known as Thousand Springs.  It was beautiful!  The springs in the canyon wall are from the Snake River Aquifer.

The national monument has some beautiful views of the Snake River.

None of the fossil excavations were exposed but there were several exhibits at the visitor center, including a mastodon skull and a full skeleton of a Hagerman horse, one of the oldest species in the horse genus.

One of the things that I found interesting was the fact that the Oregon Trail ran through the monument.  There were places that you could still see the ruts caused by the thousands of pioneer wagons that had travelled the 2200-mile route to Oregon.  This was the best spot I could find for a photograph of the ruts.

On the way back home, the setting sun really brought out the textures of the foothills of the Lost River Range.  Beautiful!

2 comments:

George said...

Wow! I'm glad you're able to see so much of the area around Idaho Falls.

Snooty Primadona said...

You guys take the BEST trips. Love the pictures!