Two Trails Become One Road

Imagine you travel the vast distance from Kansas City to Sacramento ... foot. Now imagine your journey with no cars, no roads or bridges, no hotels or restaurants, no reliable maps, and certainly no GPS!

More rugged mountains and arid deserts into hostile Indian territory, your only mode of transportation is power of the variety of animals. Your only means of navigation is the sun.

Think it sounds impossible? In the 1830s and 40, tens of thousands of people from the East did not. They risked their lives to claim free, fertile land in Oregon or press the mother lode in California.

The Oregon Trail is the original and best known of all the trails of emigrants. Farmers established the migration route in western Oregon. The other well known is the California Trail. Some settlers have diverged from the Oregon Trail and heading south to California, the establishment of a runway.

In July 1846, Jacob Donner made a fateful decision. He led the Donner Party on a shorter, less crowded version of the California Trail. The legendary, disastrous expedition traveled through the desert of Utah Great Salt. Surprisingly, the Group has followed the advice of a trail guide who had never tried the road.

Unlucky and wise, the group has struggled day after day. They have not reached the imposing Sierra Nevada until the end of October. They tried to cross the line anyway. Early winter snow trapped the group in the mountains for the winter. Rescuers have reached the part debilitated Mars. Half of the original 87 had died. Infamous, emigrants found alive cannibalism committed in order to survive.

Because of these risks, the California Trail was little used. In the mid-1840s, few migrants have settled in the Sacramento Valley. During the gold rush, the traffic along the Trail of California has increased 50 times. An estimated 30,000 to 45,000 emigrants crossed the track this year.

You can view all the sections of land crossed by the Donner-Reed today. Silver Island Mountains Loop Trail, near Wendover, Utah crosses Donner Pass-Reed, at its northern end. It is an easy trail, but at a distance illustrates the difficulties of the Donner Party would have faced. The scenery was beautiful and unusual Hellacious have appeared on the party, struggling through the soft, muddy sandbanks. Dozens of off-track side of the loop are interesting to explore.

An offshoot of the Oregon-California Trails Applegate called the track. The family Applegate blazed this trail hard after two members of the family drowned while crossing the Columbia River. They vowed to find a route faster and safer in Oregon. The first part of emigrants to use their proven track was not.

After the disastrous journey, settlers of Oregon has ordered the road. It was longer than the original and through treacherous Indian territory on a rugged and arid. Emigrants left the road. The only traffic was back to Oregon prospectors rushing south to the gold region of California.

Portions of the historic Applegate trail can be driven today. Part of the original trail is on the trail Surprise Valley in the extreme northeast corner of California. This delicate piece of the road and climb over a rocky ridge with embedded boulders. Keep an eye on the wild mustangs that roam the region today.

The proximity Fandango Pass 4WD Trail also crosses the original Applegate Trail. Many settlers and miners lost their lives here, trying to cross the mountains Warner. historical markers indicate those sections of the historic trail.

Hennessa Pass Road presented migrants with a better way to cross the mountains of Sierra Nevada. This new mountain pass in Northern California beyond Donner Pass, avoiding the difficult a. field