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Part of Fifteen kinds of historic highway: how to tell the real ones from signage
Which roadside stops actually earn a detour on a historic highway?
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 roadside stops that earn a detour on a historic highway are rarely 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.
Seven named sites clear that bar, five on the emigrant corridor in Wyoming and two on Route 66.
What makes a stop worth the detour
Detour-worthy stop checklist
- Within a few minutes of route
- Safe place to leave vehicle
- Feature visible from the site
- Toilet, or know there is not
- Walking surface stated for all
Four checks decide it.
Distance. More than twenty minutes each way means the stop has to be the reason for the trip. Most sites below sit within five minutes of a highway.
Facilities. A toilet, shade, and a surface that stays firm after rain. Gravel fails after a storm.
Interpretation. A sign that explains the ground in front of you beats a viewpoint with a name.
Cost. Free sites get a short look. A paid site has to hold you for an hour.
Seven stops that meet the test, from the Sweetwater to Route 66
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.
Many walked and waded through the gorge while their wagons took the pass to the east, the page notes. The site sits just south of the gate with a hard surfaced interpretive trail that is accessible, plus restrooms and trash collection.
Allow five minutes each way off Wyoming 220, about six miles southwest of Independence Rock. Toilet, little shade, hard surfaced trail, no fee.
A short drive west is the Split Rock Interpretive Site, which the BLM calls the notch in the summit of Split Rock the dominant landmark of the Sweetwater Valley. It aimed emigrants straight at South Pass, over seventy five miles further west.
A second highway turnout a few miles west gives a better reversed view. The site has restrooms, trash collection and a hard surfaced accessible interpretive trail.
Allow five minutes each way off US 287. Toilet, little shade, hard surfaced trail, no fee.
Independence Rock State Historic Site sits beside Wyoming Highway 220 between Casper and Muddy Gap. Emigrant parties aimed to reach it by the Fourth of July, and thousands carved names into the granite dome, which earned it the nickname Register of the Desert. A paved walkway runs from the parking area, and the adjoining rest area has restrooms.
No detour: parking is on Wyoming 220. Toilet next door, paved walkway, little shade, no fee.
Register Cliff State Historic Site, south of Guernsey on Wyoming Highway 26, protects emigrant signatures cut into a sandstone bluff above the North Platte River. A short path leads to the fenced panels of names. Wyoming State Parks manages the site.
Allow five minutes each way from Wyoming 26, about three miles south of Guernsey. Seasonal toilet, short path, little shade, no fee.
Fort Laramie National Historic Site, off US 26 in eastern Wyoming, is where the Oregon, California and Mormon trails converged on the North Platte. The visitor center has restrooms and a museum, and restored fur trade and army buildings line a paved walk.
Allow five to ten minutes each way; the site is three miles north of US 26 on Wyoming 160. Flush toilets, shade, paved walks, NPS entrance fee.
Cadillac Ranch, west of Amarillo on the I-40 frontage road, is ten Cadillacs buried nose down in a field by Stanley Marsh 3 in 1974. It is free, open during daylight, and visitors bring their own spray paint.
There is no restroom, so the break belongs in Amarillo. No detour: the field is off exit 60. No shade, dirt and grass, free.
Seligman, Arizona, sits on the Route 66 alignment between Kingman and Flagstaff, where barber Angel Delgadillo helped start the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona in 1987. His shop and the town's neon signs fill a short walk, with restrooms in the cafes and shops.
No detour on the old road, about fifteen to twenty minutes from I-40. Toilets in the cafes, pavement, free.
Each of the seven sits on or within ten minutes of a highway, and each entry states the surface and the toilet. Six are free, and Fort Laramie charges an entrance fee.
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.
