| Imagine yourself traveling the daunting distance from | | | | condemned the route. It was longer than the original |
| Kansas City to Sacramento…on foot. Now imagine | | | | and crossed treacherous Indian Territory over rugged |
| your journey with no cars, no roads or bridges, no | | | | and barren terrain. Emigrants abandoned the route. |
| hotels or restaurants, no reliable maps—and certainly | | | | The only subsequent traffic was Oregon prospectors |
| no GPS! | | | | rushing south to the California goldfields. |
| Over rugged mountains and barren deserts in hostile | | | | Portions of the historic Applegate Trail can be driven |
| Indian Territory, your only mode of transport is | | | | today. One part of original trail is on the Surprise Valley |
| horsepower—of the animal variety. Your only means | | | | Trail, in the extreme northeastern corner of California. |
| of navigation is the sun. | | | | This tricky piece of road climbs up and over a rocky |
| Think it sounds impossible? In the 1830s and 40s, tens | | | | ridge embedded with large boulders. Keep an eye out |
| of thousands of people from the East didn’t. They | | | | for wild mustangs that roam the area today. |
| risked their lives to claim free, fertile farmland in | | | | The nearby Fandango Pass 4WD Trail also crosses |
| Oregon or hit the mother lode in California. | | | | the original Applegate Trail. Many settlers and miners |
| The Oregon Trail is the original and best known of all | | | | lost their lives here, attempting to cross the Warner |
| emigrant trails. Farmers established the route migrating | | | | Mountains. Historical markers indicate these stretches |
| west to Oregon. The other well known is the California | | | | of historic trail. |
| Trail. A few settlers diverged from the Oregon Trail | | | | Henness Pass Road presented migrants with a better |
| and headed south to California, establishing a southerly | | | | way to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This new |
| track. | | | | pass crossed into California further north than Donner |
| In July 1846, Jacob Donner made a fateful decision. He | | | | Pass, avoiding harsh terrain around Truckee Lake. |
| led the Donner Party on a shorter, less traveled | | | | Henness Pass was such a good alternative that it |
| version of the California Trail. The legendary, disastrous | | | | was later improved into a wagon road. |
| expedition trekked through Utah’s Great Salt | | | | Most of the original route of Henness Pass Road can |
| Desert. Amazingly, the group followed advice from a | | | | be driven today. For high clearance 4wd vehicles, |
| trail guide who had never attempted the route. | | | | Henness Pass Road is a long, easy, and scenic drive. |
| Unlucky and unwise, the group faced hardships day | | | | Along the trail are many historic emigrant campsites |
| after day. They didn’t reach the towering Sierra | | | | and stage stop sites. Although most are little more that |
| Nevada Mountains until late October. They attempted | | | | sites, the large number of them reveals how busy the |
| crossing the range anyway. Early winter snows | | | | road must have been. |
| trapped the group in the mountains for the winter. | | | | Lesser known, is the Mormon migration. The religious |
| Rescuers reached the debilitated party in March. Half | | | | group pressed west searching for a home free of |
| of the original 87 had perished. Infamously, emigrants | | | | religious persecution. Salt Lake Valley was the perfect |
| found alive committed cannibalism in order to survive. | | | | place. Soon overpopulation forced settlement |
| As a result of such hazards, the California Trail was | | | | expansion. Blazing a route across south Utah, they |
| little used. In the mid-1840s, few migrants had settled in | | | | encountered Hole-in-the-Rock Pass: a 1,200-foot gorge |
| the Sacramento Valley. During the gold rush, traffic | | | | to the Colorado River. |
| along the California Trail increased 50-fold. An | | | | With no feasible way around it, they had to pass |
| estimated 30,000 to 45,000 emigrants traversed the | | | | through it. They blasted boulders, widened the crevice |
| trail that year. | | | | walls, and graded a path, creating a series of roads |
| You can experience sections of terrain crossed by | | | | along the cliff edges. An amazing feat of engineering, |
| the Donner-Reed Expedition today. Silver Island | | | | they tacked a road onto the sheer face of the gorge |
| Mountains Loop Trail near Wendover, Utah crosses | | | | by chiseling holes into the rock and inserting log |
| Donner-Reed Pass at its north end. This is an easy but | | | | supports. The result was a 50-foot wooden road. |
| remote track that illustrates the hardships the Donner | | | | They planned 6 weeks for the expedition. It took them |
| Party would have faced. The beautiful and unusual | | | | more than 6 months. |
| scenery must have seemed hellacious to the party, | | | | A long, interesting 4-wheel drive trail in Grand Staircase |
| struggling through the soft, muddy sand flats. Dozens | | | | Escalante National Monument travels sections of the |
| of side tracks off the loop are interesting to explore. | | | | historic Mormon Pioneer Trail. Slickrock sections in the |
| An offshoot of the Oregon and California Trails was | | | | trail’s last 5 miles require short, steep climbs and |
| called the Applegate Trail. The Applegate family | | | | careful wheel placements. It’s only a short |
| blazed this arduous trail after two family members | | | | scramble at the end of the trail to the Hole-in-the-Rock |
| drowned crossing the Columbia River. They swore | | | | site. The enormity of the work of the early pioneers is |
| they would find a faster and safer route into Oregon. | | | | still obvious. You can still see scrapes from the |
| The first emigrant party to use the track proved theirs | | | | wagons that descended through the Hole-in-the-Rock |
| was neither. | | | | on the sides of the passage. |
| After the disastrous journey, Oregon settlers | | | | |