Massacre Rocks State Park September 6-8, 2024

We left the Cracker Barrel in Wampa, Idaho around 10:30 am on Friday, September 6th and drove 218 miles to Massacre Rocks State Park just outside of American Falls, Idaho.

Massacre Rocks State Park is named for the passage through boulders along the south bank of the Snake River that travelers on the Oregon Trail named “Massacre Rocks” (as well as “Gate of Death” and “Devil’s Gate) because of fear they would be ambushed by Native Americans. Historically, according to diaries of settlers, five wagons of travelers on the Oregon Trail clashed with the Shoshone tribe just east of the rocks on August 9-10, 1862.

The park is 995 acres of land at an elevation of approximately 4,000 feet and includes a Visitors Center, 50 campsites with water and electric hookups, picnic areas, restrooms with hot showers, a disc golf course and trails that allow you to hike portions of the original Oregon Trail. The area was designated a State Park in 1967.

In the three and half years we have been traveling the country in our RV, this had to have been THE WORST site I have ever tried to get into. There was a deep slope at the entrance of the pull-through site that curved through stands of trees on each side that you had to thread your way through. Then, once I was able to get into the spot, I had to pull through to the end and back up to get into position. As you might guess, this was a VERY UNLEVEL site.

These State Parks that are this old do not have sites made for the larger, longer trailers of today. It’s a monumental effort to get your RV into the site and positioned correctly to access the water and electric hookups. We ended up being slightly unlevel from front to back and side to side, but since it was only for two nights we decided to live with it.

Additionally, the park is not very well maintained. Our fire pit had actual garbage in it and the previous guests had let their dog(s) shit on the site. Both of those situations should have been cleaned up by the campground host before we arrived, but they weren’t. The roads were very narrow (another sign of how long ago they opened) and even the trail signs (with the exception of the two you see in our photo album) and information signs throughout the park look like they had been given up on as they were faded and some were unreadable.

This park could make good use of a remodel to widen the roads, level the campsites and make then large enough to comfortably accommodate larger RVs. And perhaps hire some camp hosts and visitor center staff that care.

After we were set up on Friday night we watched 3 more episodes of “KAOS”. At that point I was just watching it to see what the hell happens, lol, because it’s a weird series. Not as good as “American Gods” (same premise), in my opinion. It’s full of strange stuff that I hope makes sense by the time it’s over.

Saturday morning we hiked around the park and down to the shores of the Snake River with Bella. Then that afternoon just Cindy and I hiked the Po’Hogwe Trail where we trekked through the actual Massacre Rocks before taking in the Visitor Center. Afterward we drove two miles up the road to Register Rock and during the drive we spotted a beautiful Swainsons Hawk sitting on an old wagon frame next to the road.

Register Rock is designated a National Historic Site. Travelers on The Oregon Trail would carve their names into the large boulder, some of them including the date. It’s pretty interesting to see and to realize that you’re standing where they stood as they neared the end of their journey across the country.

Sunday morning we left and drove 232 miles south to the Cracker Barrel in Springville, Utah for another one-night stay. Those stays at Cracker Barrel are nice, but we eat way too much, lol. Though we still each get our own breakfast, now we try to make sure we split our dinner so we don’t over-indulge.

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