National Historic Trails

National Historic Trails

National historic trails are somewhat more coceptual than national scenic trails. Their objective is to preserve any historic remnants of the trail rather than provide a continuous footpath across its entire length. The “trails” often are no more than a series or roadside signs that direct travelers to historic sites or markers, though foot trails do appear from time to time at the roadside stops. The main exception to this description is the Iditarod in Alaska.

Iditarod National Historic Trail

Iditarod Trail Committee, Wasilla, Ak.

Length: 2,450 miles. The trail was made famous by prospectors and their dog teams during the Alaska gold rush at the turn of the 20th century. Most of the trail is usable only during Alaska's six-month winter, when rivers and tundra are frozen. Each year, the 1,150-mile Iditarod sled dog race is run along the trail from Anchorage to Nome. Other events include the 210-mil Ididasport race for skiers, mountain bikers, and snow-shoers, and the Alaska Gold Rush Classic Snowmachine Race. A network of shelters is being installed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Iditarod Trail Committee.

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

National Park Service, Western Region Division of Planning, San-Francisco, Ca.

Length: 1,200 miles. In 1775, a party of 200 Spanish colonists led by Col. Juan Bautista de Anza set out to establish an overland route to California. The band of 30 families, a dozen soldiers, and 1,000 head of cattle, horse and mule spent three months traversing the deserts of the South west before reaching the California coast and another three months traveling up the coast to what is now San Francisco. There they established a presidio, or military headquarters, that is still in use today.

Make sure to bring a hat, sun screen and water bottle and wear sturdy shoes for your adventure. Photo by Elena.

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

National Park Service.

Length : 3,700 miles. President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 doubled the area of the United States by purchasing from France 885,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi. The following year he commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore and map his $125 million ”Louisiana Purchase.” They took the Missouri River upstream from what is today Wood River, Ill., crossed over several other rivers, and reached the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805. State, local, and private interests have established motor routes, roadside markers, and museum exhibits telling the Lewis and Clark story along the route.

Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail

National Park Service.

Length: 1,300 miles. Mormon emigration was one of the principal forces of settlement of the West. Seeking refuge from religious persecution, thousands of Mormons in 1846 left their settlement in Nauvoo, Ill. Where church-founder Joseph Smith had lived. They spent the next winter in the Council Bluffs, Iowas, and Omaha, Nebraska areas. Early in 1847, Brigham Young led an advance party west along the Platte River to Fort Bridger, Wyoming, where they turned southwest and eventually came to the Great Salt Lake. The 1,624-mile route through five states generally is marked with a logo and closely follows the trail's historic route.

Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail

U.S. Forest Service, Nex Perce National Historic Trail Coordinator.

Length: 1,170 miles. The Nez Perce in 1877 were forced to leave their ancestral homelands in the Wallowa Valley of the Oregon Territory and move to the Lapwai Reservation in Idaho. Hostilities broke out between white settlers and some of the Nez Perce during the journey. Three of the settlers were killed. The U.S. Army was called in, and five bands of the Nez Perce, one of them led by Chief Joseph, headed north across the Rocky Mountains hoping to find refuge in Canada. They eluded capture for months, but just short of reaching the Canadian border in Montana, they were captured by the army and forced to settle in Oklahoma. Within two years, they were returned to Idaho and Washington. Joseph became an eloquent spokesman for peace until his death in 1904.

Oregon National Historic Trail

U.S. Forest Service Outdoor recreation Center.

Length: 2,170 miles. As the harbinger of America's westward expansion, the Oregon Trail was the pathway to the Pacific for fur traders, gold seekers, missionaries, and emigrants of every stripe. Beginning in 1841 and over a span of two decades, an estimated 300,000 emigrants undertook the five-month journey from Kansas to Oregon. The trail corridor still contains some 300 miles of discernible wagon ruts and 125 historic sites. The approximate route can be followed by automobile, and opportunities are available to travel by foot, horse, or mountain bike in many places.

Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

Contact : Sycamore Shoals Historical Park.

Length : 300 miles. In the fall of 1780, citizens of Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina formed a militia to drive the British from the southern colonies. This trail marks their 14-day trek across the Appalachians to the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. There they defeated British troops at the battle of King Mountain, setting in motion events that led to the British surrender at Yorktown and the end of the Revolutionary War. Much of the trail has become road and highway; only a 20-mile portion remains as a foot trail across the mountains. In most places roadside signs indicate proximity to the trail. A guide to the seven walking sections of the trail is available.

Santa Fe National Historic Trail

Contact: National Park Service, Long Distance Trails Groups Office.

Length: 1,203 miles. After Mexican independence in 1821, U.S. And Mexican traders developed the Santa Fe Trail using American Indian travel and trade routes. It quickly became a commercial and cultural link between the two countries. It also became a road of conquest during the Mexican and Civil wars. With the building of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880, the trail was largely abandoned. Of the 1,203 miles of the trail route between Old Franklin, Mo., and Santa Fe, N.M., more than 200 miles of wagon ruts remain visible; 30 miles of them are protected on federal lands.

Trail of Tears Historic Trail

Contact: National Park Service, Long Distance Trails Group Office.

Length: 2,200 miles. After many years of pressure from white settlers, 16,000 Cherokees from the southestearn states were moved by the U.S. Army in the late 1830s to lands west of the Mississippi River. Various detachments followed different routes west to the Oklahoma Territory. Thousands died along the way. Today the designated trail follows two of the principal routes: a water trail (1,226 miles) along the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers; and an overland route (826 miles) from Chattanooga, Tenn. to Tablequah, Okla.

California National Historic Trail

Contact: Oregon-California Trails Association.

Length: 5,665 miles. The California Trail has been aptly described as a great rope stretching from the Missouri River to the California gold fields. One would have to describe the rope as quite frayed, though, both at the ends and in the middle. The trail is commonly thought of a single and direct line across the western United States that was trampled by fortune seekers during the gold rush of 1849. In fact, it was a collection of competing routes developed in the decade prior to the gold-rush by land-seeking emigrants. Officially opened in 1992 and awesome in length, the entire system includes an estimated 320 historical sites, including forts, trading posts, and the natural landmarks that guided emigrants.

The Pony Express Trail

Contact: National Park Service, Western Region Division of Planning.

Length: 1,665 miles. During its 18 months of operation, riders for the privately owned Pony Express carried mail between St.Joseph, Mo., and San Francisco in an unprecedented 10 days. The horse-and-rider relay system became the nation's most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the telegraph. The trail proved the feasibility of a central overland transportation route that could be used year-round, paving the way for the construction of a cross-country railroad. Approximately one-third of the 150 relay stations, where the Pony Express riders were allowed exactly two minutes to exchange mail with the station master, show identifiable remains and are historical sites along the trail.

Big pink flower. Photo by Elena.