martin's cove

As the other reviewers mentioned, this is a visitor's center run by senior missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS). The site has a museum of 1850's items found along the Oregon/Mormon trail that is quite interesting. If you want a glimpse into pioneer life, this little spot is a great stop. If you make the hike into Martin's Cove, pay attention to how you feel along the way!

Heading north from Rawlins to Casper, Wyoming, about 45 miles north on highway 287N, just after the transition to highway 220N, on the right side of the road is the entrance to the Sun Ranch, managed and maintained now by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS aka Mormons). This area is believed to be where the Martin Handcart company containing 575 individuals, 145 handcarts, and 8 wagons when it began its journey sought shelter in November 1856 from an early snowstorm. It is hallowed ground for LDS members, and a beautiful site to hike for anybody. The site has a 5 mile loop, handcarts that can be rented to push in order to get a sense of what they were doing. The heroic side of the story was the rescue of the survivors by fellow church members that rode out, cut a trail back, and brought the survivors to Salt Lake City through the snows of that year. For us it was a spiritual experience, for all it is a beautiful site to see.

When planning a trip to Martin's Cove you should be prepared for a fair amount of walking and hiking. You may even push a handcart replica across portions of the trail if you wish. With this in mind you should be prepared specific to clothing (loose layers depending on season), plenty of water, sunscreen, and hat and sunglasses. Martin's Cove is not a place to visit "quickly." To understand and feeling the full importance of what took place here so long ago, you should give yourself half a day. Will you need that much time? Probably not, but if you plan extra time then you won't feel pressure to bypass important points of interest and you will be more likely to spend time contemplating the extreme human experience that is Martin's Cove. If you are not already aware, this is a historic spot operated by the LDS Church, the Mormons. As such you will see opportunities to learn more about the religion but of course you are not obligated to do so. This site is along the historic Mormon Trail, which for better or worse is an integral part of US history like unto the significance of the Oregon Trail. At the actual Cove, many LDS pioneers lost theirs lives during a vicious snowstorm and cold snap. Many were buried in this Cove. As a result this Cove is considered sacred ground and signage will ask you to treat it as such.This is a wonderful place to visit with children since the opportunity to run and stretch their legs after a long car ride are plentiful. Be wary of the occasional rattlesnake that may slither across the road. All in all this is rare I believe, since we only saw one during our visit.Most important to remember; take your time and bring your walking shoes/boots, sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and an open mind.

I can't think of a reason to be anywhere near Martin's Cove unless you are already planning on going to Martin's Cove - or you are lost and need clean bathrooms. Either way, you will find an interesting visitor's center, with handcarts, a restored 19th century ranch, fort and friendly staff to let you know what it is all about. If you are not Mormon, you should know this is a Church owned historical site significant to the westward migration of the early Mormons. If you are a Mormon, its a nice stop with an interesting museum/visitors center that can be toured in about 30 minutes. There are also picnic facilities, information about the area and clean bathrooms. In addition to the tour, you can try your hand ad pulling a handcart, visit the fort and the restored ranch. If you are passing through, it is a great way to stretch the legs.

This is a very pleasant place to visit. It is staffed by volunteers but they are very helpful. You can push a handcart like the pioneers but I got tired very quickly. NO CHARGE for any of the tours or handcart experiences. We wanted to stay longer, but had to move on.

The location is on the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail and California Trail. When I saw the visitor center sign from the road, I decided to drive in and see. This is an interesting place staffed by Mormons who do an incredible job of telling you about the history of the place.I was met by a very nice woman who took me on a personal guided tour of the museum. I learned so much about the Mormons who came from Europe and decided to go to Salt Lake City. Many simply took hand carts with a few belongings; rations of flour each day were low. If snows came out, it was sad how many died on the trail. It was inspirational story at the same time about people and religion. The woman guide was so nice and informative.After going through the museum, I watched the well done movie and learned more about the place. There are many additional buildings to see such as the bunk house, another museum, a fort, walks to Devil's Gate Area.It is well worth stopping here and seeing the place and being inspired by the strong faith of the Mormons. If you do go, do realize it will take you about 90 minutes to two hours to see the place. They were quite all right with you seeing as little or as much as you wanted and did take care to find out how much time you had for your visit.It was an unexpected part of my 4 week road trip but well worth doing.

We had the best tour ever yesterday at Martin's Cove in south central Wyoming. This site is located on the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail and California Trail. Our guides told the amazing and heartbreaking story of a company of Mormon emigrants pulling handcarts from Iowa City, MO to Salt Lake City who were stranded in the worst snowstorm in history. The hardships suffered by these and others who followed these trails is unimaginable. Elder and Sister Deaver could not have been more accommodating. They drove us all over the property in an ATV, sought out prong horned antelope and a rattlesnake for me to photograph and opened up locked buildings so we could go inside rather than just walking around the exterior. I would highly recommend visiting the incredible site as well as Independence Rock where you can see where pioneers wrote their names on the rock as they made their way across the prairie. Reading about this is history books is nothing compared to seeing it in person.

Originally, we thought this site was close to I-80, however, it is a full hour north and east of the highway. We were beginning to wonder if it was wise to take off into the wilderness,but we finally found the location. I am so happy that we decided to visit this museum. The missionaries that took us through the site were very knowledgeable about the history of the area and the stories were very compelling. He explained the routes that were taken, the timing of the Martin and Willy handcart companies, and had many journal stories about these pioneers. After going through the museum, I wandered over to the handcarts and tried pulling one. They are heavier than I expected. I got to thinking about the work that was involved, the hardships, and the incredible decisions that they had to make. It was well worth the drive. I would recommend it to anyone interested in history in general and Mormon Pioneer history in particular.

The LDS staff this important site. It is unreal to think about the amount of suffering the handcart companies had to endure to get to Utah and how many died getting there. This site and the film we saw helps bring this into sharp focus. Well worth the time.

Interesting site for the LDS church. There is always plenty of staff to answer questions. There are areas to walk around and see more of this important site. Baptisms can be done in the Sweetwater River as long as it is deep enough and you call to arrange this.