keeney pass

After visiting the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City,Oregon and seeing the ruts there, I wanted to see more so came here.The ruts are located 6 miles southeast of Vale on Lytle at a site administered by the BLM. There is paved parking lot with interpretive signs and a trail to the ruts on the west side if the road. The short trail that is accessible takes you to two parallel depressions which were cut into the soil by the ironclad wheels of the wagons and footsteps of the emigrants. The amazing thing to me was the fact the ruts are getting more pronounced because of erosion. Once you reach the ruts, the trail you are on continues but is no longer accessible for those with mobility issues. Follow the trail about a third of a mile (takes about 30 minutes round trip) along the ruts out to a viewpoint.If you visit the site, keep in mind the area has no facilities- no picnic area, no vault toilets, and no water. These are some if the best, most accessible Oregon Trail ruts I have see and well worth a visit. There is no fee to visit the site. You can easily take the entire trail and read the interpretive signs in an hour. If seeing some of the few remaining ruts interests you and you are heading north on I 84, there are some more clearly defined and accessible ruts at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Park at Blue Mountain Crossing. They are reached by taking the Spring Creek exit twelve miles west of La Grande, Oregon. These ruts are in a forest and the emigrants had to chop down trees at times to get the wagons through.