RV'ing old west trails

Retired and wasting my mind.
Saw some of the Oregon Trail in 2010. Don't think your MH's tires will fit the wagon wheel ruts you can still see.;):B

We did the Oregon trail to find a site where a friend's Great Grandparents while in a wagon train were attcked by indians. We found the marker indicating where it happened. It took quite a bit of searching. We saw lots of interesting landscapes along the way. In some spots you could see the ruts where the wagons had travelled. I remember one spot where a low outcropping of granite had two ruts worn in it by so many wagons wheels travelling across it.

It was an adventure made personal because of our friend's search for answers about & connection with her relatives.

The one thing that struck me was the wagon trains were lucky if they travelled 10 miles in one day. In our RVs we would do that in 10 minutes. How can you keep your spirit up for months of hard travel...they were hardy souls.

Various highways and railroads followed sections of some of the 18th century migration trails and cattle drive trails. Those often followed even older trails, like the Santa Fe Trail, El Camino Real, and numerous "Old Spanish" trails Texas to Florida. There are also King's Highways to follow down the East Coast.

You will find quite a few of these documented online, in addition to routes and brochures from state tourism departments and private publishers.

I note the trails when I am following them, but seldom put together a trip to follow a trail, more often I put one together to follow a river.

California Highway 49 isn't exactly an old wagon trail but it winds 350 miles through the California gold country. Lots of ghost towns and historic sites. http://highway49.org

It has always been one of our passtimes for local trips to head out to famous Oregon Trail and Sante Fe trail way points for a day trip. One of our favorites is located just north of Waterville Kansas and is called "Independence Crossing". it is where the wagon trains crossed the Big Blue river. They camped at a place called 'Alcove Springs" which is just a quarter mile north of the crossing and has been developed as an historic site by Kansas Historical Society. On rocks surrounding the spring can be found initials from pioneers who camped there and include members of the famous Donner Party. Waiting for swollen rivers early in their trip was ONE of the reasons they ended up making the mountains so late in the season. There REALLY is not much to the idea of "following the old trail" though there are a number of highways that are approximately the route taken (Interstate 80 for example) but it simply requires getting off of the highway to actually see famous places.

Good luck / Skip

Alcove Springs Photo

I am also retired military and like the old trails
Two of my favorites are the Butterfield stage route of 1858 and the old Mojave road in the Calif desert.
there have been several good write ups on the Mojave road.
when I drive it I can ajmost see the camels that were used here in 1858.The good part is that you can drive it in a 4wd for 120 miles and visit a few of the old Forts.

Two of our favorites, although not really "old west" are 1) the Lewis & Clark Trail from Missouri north and west to the Pacific and return in 1804-06, and 2) the Missions Trail in California from San Diego north to San Rafael dating bck to the early 1800's. Lots of infor is available on both of these trails and we have enjoyed the trips very much.

Many of our modern highways do indeed follow the old trail routes and in a few places, like at visitor centers you can catch a glimpse of some old ruts on thier videos. But,for the most part visible ruts are in remote regions out in pastures or long ago covered by sprawling cities.


We actually live a few feet away from the Sidney-Deadwood Trail route. My family homesteaded this land where a relay station and road house once were 10 years after the trail became obsolete because the railroad came to the region.

Our road, which is mostly right on or next to the multiple tracks of ruts is not safe for an RV. Very few of the original ruts are visible from the highway, near the marker out on the highway where it does cross the original route. Locals know where the remnants are but tourists cannot tell which ruts are more recent ranch trails and older trails from freight wagons and stage coaches. This area has been farmed and ranched for about 125 years so in that time many new "trails" have been made and older ones have been filled in my wind and blowing sand.

I hope you enjoy your adventure driving through the areas of the old trails imagining how it might have looked so long ago.

I've done the Oregon Trail, the Continental Railroad, the Continental Divide and quite a bit of the Lewis and Clark trail. Not from any RV, but from my BMW Dakar motorcycle. I use the RV for staging and then head out for a week, come back, move RV and go again. IMO just about any of these trails, if you are actually following the real trail itself and not the highways with the markers, won't be any fun in an RV. For example; there are sections of the Oregon trail with rock mounds along it. The mounds are maybe 10 or so per mile. Took a little while to figure out, but they were graves. Yup; 10 graves per mile along that trail. We probably wouldn't have recognized the mounds as anything from behind a windshield, too busy staying on the road and not looking, stopping, etc...

Here is an example of a ride report. It's do-able in an RV I think. Just skim the photos and if that doesn't peak your interest enough to read the report, nothing lost.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=722112&highlight=Oregon


For more rides and potential RV routes, look through these reports;


http://advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Use the 'search' feature to search for reports that might interest you. By state for example. Or a river you like. Search 'Oregon' and get the reports on that state.

OP Here: Did not mean RV on trail literally, although at least one reply says small portions may be doable in 4WD. Just warming up to the idea of seeing old west history and how they actually got there is a big part of the whole story. We will be following the Santa Fe trail - just not sure yet what part. Keep the comments coming. Nothing better than experience!