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Oregon National Historic Trail

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 208 | Exploring the Oregon Trail

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 208 Image

It is one of the longest units of the National Park System in the country. "It," of course, is the Oregon National Historic Trail, which stretches more than 2,100 miles from Missouri to Oregon. It’s been estimated that between 1840 and 1860 some 300,000-400,000 men, women, and children embarked on the four-month-long trip to head to the West Coast. It was long, arduous, and deadly.

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A Touch Of Delight On The Oregon Trail

Of 19 national historic trails administered by the National Park Service in conjunction with several other federal agencies, four – California, Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express - follow the Platte River Valley across Nebraska. Both the California and the Oregon National Historic Trails pass through Ash Hollow, a favorite stop for many pioneers as noted in their journals.

Be Surprised By America's National Parks

The two of us have enjoyed a half century of travel, much of it devoted to visiting America’s national parks. The initial three decades involved travel in a series of four Volkswagen campers, a vehicle we loved, but that disappeared in 2004 from VW dealers in the United States. If only the company would export its California van to the U.S. More recently we tented and stayed in national park lodges. The many national park visits offered some wonderful surprises including these ten that we seem to remember best.

National Historic Trails Interpretive Center To Lead Trek To Pioneer Graves

The Oregon Trail is this nation’s longest graveyard. Nearly one in ten emigrants who set off on the trail did not survive. Although death was not uncommon along the pioneer trails, designated marked gravesites were. Lack of materials, time, weather conditions, and terrain were all reasons that emigrants did not bury the ill-fated. However, despite the mass westward migration ending over 150 years, some pioneer grave sites are still visible.

Exploring The Parks: Oregon National Historic Trail In Wyoming

Plant yourself -- leaning into the wind, of course -- on the open prairie near South Pass City, Wyoming, and you can quickly envision the setting that faced Conestoga-riding emigrants more than a century ago in their exodus to the West Coast. Endless miles of sagebrush, the Wind River Range looming ever-present to the north, a boundless sky dotted here and there with distant rainstorms.

A Most Difficult Trail....

Pacific Creek, Oregon Trail. Copyright Kurt Repanshek

Crossing Wyoming was a tedious, and dangerous, task for those heading to a new life in Oregon or perhaps California. Here, at along the Oregon Trail at Pacific Springs not far from South Pass City, Wyoming, with the Wind River Range in the distance, emigrants would stop to rest themselves and their livestock. For some, it was their final stop, as several graves are in the area.

Kurt Repanshek
http://www.nps.gov/oreg/index.htm
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The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.