Theodore Roosevelt Presidential LibraryPublic Lands Directory

Alerts and conditions

All clear. The managing agency, the National Weather Service and wildfire reporting show no current alerts.

Overview

Follow in the footsteps of over 250,000 emigrants who traveled to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s: the greatest mass migration in American history. The California National Historic Trail is over 5,000 miles long and covers portions of 10 states. Step into history along more than 1,000 miles of ruts and traces from travelers and their overland wagons.

From the National Park Service

History

The designation history for this site (every law, proclamation and order, and the administration behind each) is being researched and checked by the Library’s historians.

What to see and do

Activities

  • Auto and ATV
  • Scenic Driving
  • Guided Tours
  • Self-Guided Tours - Auto
  • Hiking
  • Horse Trekking
  • Horseback Riding
  • Junior Ranger Program
  • Museum Exhibits

Plan your visit

Hours

California National Historic Trail: The California National Historic Trail is not a clearly marked hiking trail. Instead it is a corridor that passes through communities, urban areas, public lands, and Wilderness. The route travels across a variety of land ownerships and management, including private land. Each location varies as to the hours of operation and access. Please contact individual trail sites before your visit for more information.

Getting there

Those portions of the California National Historic Trail authorized by Congress include nearly 2,000 miles of historic trail that was once the primary "road" taken by farmers, enterprising business managers, gold-seekers, and fortune hunters who chose to make a new life on the California frontier. The route passes through ten states from Missouri to California.

Visitor centers

Weather

Due to the length of the California National Historic Trail, be sure to consult local weather sources for the region you'll be visiting. Check out the forecast with the National Weather Service and search for the area you'd like to visit: weather.gov

Phone: N/A

Whose lands these are

These lands are the ancestral and present-day homelands of Native nations. A section on whose lands these are is being prepared with tribal review. In the meantime, Native Land Digital offers a starting point.

Photos

A still creek winds through brown rolling hills.
A creek in Carlin Canyon, Nevada on the California Trail · NPS Photo
A dirt road passes through sagebrush and a white post with a mountain in the background.
Trail ruts on through Humboldt Wells in Nevada · NPS Photo
A rock buttress with a notch in it surrounded by sagebrush flats.
Devil's Gate, Wyoming · NPS Photo
Pine trees partly obscure a distant mountain lake with snow-capped mountains.
View of West Pass on Carson Route · NPS Photo

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