The scenery near the Park changed yet again. We drove past black lava fields and dry-looking hills and occasionally, combinations of both which were most attractive such as this pond located at an historical stop on the Oregon Trail called Goodale's Cutoff.

"In 1862 an emigrant party asked guide Tim Goodale to lead them west from Fort Hall on the cutoff pioneered by Jeffrey. They hoped the alternate trail would enable them to reach the Salmon River gold fields more directly. Goodale succeeded in leading a group of 1,095 people, 338 wagons, and 2,900 head of stock safely from Fort Hall to Boise. It took this enormous wagon train -- the largest to travel any section of the Oregon Trail -- over 3 hours to get into or out of camp. This journey typically took two to three weeks.

Goodale's Cutoff took its toll on the travelers and their wagons. The rugged lava restricted travel to one lane, so progress was slow. The path along the edge of the lava flows was circuitous. The emigrants typically passed through in late July, the hottest part of the summer. Wood dried out in the desert air and shrank, causing wheels and boxes to come apart. Pioneers wrote of finding pieces of broken wagons littering the trail."