The photos below are what we saw.
Owsley
Bridge is a one-lane bridge, but it has been taken out of
service.
You
could walk over the bridge, but it was closed to vehicles.
The roadbed had many issues: holes and sags.
Oddly,
the plaque did not state the year of construction. I am
guessing 1920s.
The lake
behind the dam at Owsley had thick vegetation on the
banks. There were nice purple flowers in bloom.
Near
Owsley we passed an LMTV 6x6 that has been converted for fire
service.
Thor is
about the same physical size as the 6x6 LMTV and both are rated
at 5 ton capacity.
Along
the Snake River to the east of Owsley is the so-called Thousand
Springs area. Along the volcanic cliffs, artesian wells
gush water into the river
The
springs spanned several miles and some of them were high volume
flows.
The
infrastructure on the cliff was an attempt to capture and divert
some of the flow for irrigation.
There
was a nice marina and camp area on the river across from the
springs. From the springs we traveled east along the river
to Murtaugh Reservoir and spent a quiet night at a county
park. The following morning, we headed east toward Jackson
Hole, WY along the Snake River.
We left
the freeway at American Falls to get a look at the
"falls". The falls have been co-opted by a dam to exploit
the power of the river. Above is the powerhouse for the
dam.
The
railroad passed overhead on a large truss bridge of plate and
rivet construction.
On the
opposite side of the river was an old structure that was either
a powerhouse or a flour mill.
These
gates hold back the Snake River.
From
American Falls, we traveled east to Soda Springs to see the
geyser. We arrived just as the eruption started.
The
geyser is the result of some drilling that was done into the
aquifer. Years ago, a valve was installed to prevent
wasting the water. The geyser is on a one hour cycle.
These
are travertine deposits left from evaporation of the heavily
mineralized water.
The
travertine is formed by a intricate pattern of dikes and sills
due to evaporation.
The
deposits have become quite thick over the years.
In Soda
Springs we passed this nice hot rod parked on the street.
The
hills around Soda Springs host a large number of phosphate
mines.
We
finally made it to Jackson only to find that we did not have a
room. Some fast work on Kathleen's part got us what
appeared to be the last room in town. In the end it worked
out better as we got a 2 bedroom bungalow with washing machines.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2017, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.