wagon ruts
Carved path indentations
Wagon ruts are the grooves worn into roads or trails by repeated passage of wagon wheels.
On well-traveled routes, these parallel depressions could become deep enough to guide—or trap—later vehicles.
The Oregon Trail still shows visible wagon ruts in places.
Figuratively, being stuck in a rut means following the same path without progress or change.
- dirt roadUnpaved rural thoroughfare
- stagecoachHorse-drawn route vehicle
- Oregon TrailEmigrant route westward
- buckboardOpen four-wheeled horse vehicle
- prairie schoonerCanvas-topped pioneer transport
mountain pass · bumpy ride · mud season · clay soil · trade caravans · heritage sites · historical trails · mule train · draft animals · chuckwagon · wheel alignment · oxcart · tread patterns · Santa Fe Trail · pioneer trails · westward expansion · suspension systems · grooves
- Rocky Mountain WestWyoming, Montana, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, cowboys
- wheel markstire tracks, cart tracks, tank tracks
- Pioneer TrailsOregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, Mormon Trail, pioneers, emigrants
- Old Westcowboy, cowboys, cowgirl, sheriff, sheriffs
- Frontier Transportstagecoach, prairie schooner, mule train, oxcart, buckboard
- Spanish Trailroyal road, Santa Fe, El Paso, Chihuahua, Mexico City
wagon rutspaved road
Hard-surfaced thoroughfare
highway · asphalt · macadam · cobblestone street · railroad tracks