Features
Part of 15 kinds of historic highway route worth a closer look in 2027
Historic highway route stops worth adding to a longer trip
How to choose stops that earn their detour on a historic route, with two documented roadside sites that show what a good short stop actually offers.
What to take away
- A good stop is close to the road, has a toilet, and explains something you can see from where you stand.
- Interpretive sites with hard surfaced trails work for far more people than a trailhead does.
- Detour distance is the test. Twenty minutes off the route needs to buy more than a plaque.
- Two short stops beat one long one on a driving day.
The stops that improve a long historic route are not the famous ones. They are the pull ins with a toilet, a bit of shade, a surface you can walk on, and a sign that tells you what the ground in front of you meant to the people who crossed it.
What makes a stop worth the detour
- It is within a few minutes of the route, or it is genuinely exceptional.
- There is somewhere to leave the vehicle safely and get fully off the road.
- The feature is visible from the site, not described in the abstract.
- There is a toilet, or you know there is not before you turn off.
- The walking surface is stated, so you know whether it suits everyone in the car.
Two sites that meet that test
Along the emigrant trail corridor in central Wyoming, the BLM maintains interpretive sites at landmarks the wagon diaries actually name. Its page for the Devil's Gate Interpretive Site describes a cleft in the east end of the Sweetwater Rocks that drew comment from many pioneers, notes that many walked and waded through the gorge while their wagons took the pass to the east, and states that the site sits just south of the gate with a hard surfaced interpretive trail that is accessible, plus restrooms and trash collection.
A short drive west, the BLM's page for the Split Rock Interpretive Site describes the notch in the summit of Split Rock as the dominant landmark of the Sweetwater Valley, one that aimed emigrants directly at South Pass more than seventy five miles further west. It notes a second highway turnout a few miles west that gives a better reversed view, and says the site has restrooms, trash collection and a hard surfaced accessible interpretive trail.
Those two entries show the pattern. Named feature, visible from the site, stated surface, stated facilities, and directions from a highway. That is what a good stop looks like on paper.
Building stops into a driving day
Space them. A stop every ninety minutes keeps a long day tolerable and turns the drive into the point rather than the cost. Put the one that needs a walk in the morning, and the one that is a viewpoint in the late afternoon.
Where a site has no facilities, treat it as a fifteen minute stop and plan a real break in the next town. Where a site has restrooms and shade, it is worth thirty minutes and lunch.
Where to go next
Which stops suit your trip depends on the kind of road you have chosen, which is set out in the fifteen kinds of historic route. If you plan to photograph any of them, the field list for these routes covers the timing problem that opening hours create.
Common questions
How far off route is too far? As a rule, more than twenty minutes each way needs to be the reason you came, not an extra.
Are roadside interpretive sites free? Usually, though nearby developed sites may charge day use fees. The site page normally says.
How do I find them in advance? Read the route page and the managing field office page, then plot the named sites before you leave. They are rarely well signed far in advance.
What if a site has no toilet? Plan around the last one you passed. On long stretches, facilities determine the schedule more than mileage does.
