Mile 1134: Green River
"The trouble with the Green River Desert was not lack of water. There was plenty, but it was all in the Green River—'by far the most formidable stream to be…
Mile 1119: Simpson’s Hollow and Simpson’s Gulch
"One other landmark caught our attention on the trek toward Green River—the graves in the stretch of river bank where the coulee of Simpson Hollow opens out to the Big…
Mile 1109: Big Sandy
"Between mountain and desert the emigrants found the Big Sandy, lovely dependable stream that it was, and went hunting for rabbits and sage hen and big plump gooseberries for pies.…
Mile 1088-1094: Dry Creek to Parting of the Ways
"From Pacific Creek the modern road parallels the trail to Dry Sandy Creek. This disappointing watercourse is ordinarily all that its name implies; but we, like the Forty-niners, were regarding…
Mile 1078: Pacific Springs Station
"All the time that my brain was wandering in this pleasant fog of confused ideas, my feet were carrying me out of the troubled times of '49 and into the…
Mile 1043: St. Mary’s Crossing
"In the flat was a small marker for the site of old St. Mary's stage station, usually referred to as St. Mary's Crossing. Two buffalo horns, gray and scaly from…
Crossing South Pass
"The amount of earth and sky in view at once was rather appalling. Something familiar about the situation kept ringing a bell in my memory, and suddenly I audibly recalled…
Mile 1075: South Pass
"It is all part and parcel of the unsatisfactory nomenclature of the trail that South Pass is by no means to the south. The descriptive title was first used by…
Mile 1020: Icy Slough
"The road continually crossed and recrossed the conspicuous ruts left by the caravans which at this point had saved weary miles by cutting off a bend in the river. Men…
Mile 996: Split Rock
"Once we stopped on the indefinite summit of a foothill swell to look our last at Split Rock, one of the less known trail landmarks. From this distance, it was…
Mile 981: Plante’s Station
"At this stage of the journey, especially in the headlong gold-rush years, the pioneers experienced a general unhingement. Teams heretofore considered indispensable were dead. The migration would have been face…
Mile 975: Martin’s Cove
"This modest marker, labeled 'Martin's Cove,' indicated a little recess in the hills here in 1856 an unfortunate company of Mormons were caught by early snows and suffered from exposure…
Mile 975: Devil’s Gate
"The route . . . lay along the southwest bank of the Sweetwater for some five miles after leaving the rock [from Independence Rock]. Here [the emigrants] must negotiate a…
Mile 962: Permission to Cross Pathfinder Ranch
According to the Pony Express Bikepacking Route map on ridewithgps.com, the Route enters private property just before Pathfinder National Wildlife Refuge: "Must apply for access to the Pathfinder Ranch. Email…
Mile 970: Permission to Cross
According to the Pony Express Bikepacking Route map on ridewithgps.com, the Route enters private property just past Independence Rock: "Must apply for access to the Dumbbell Ranch. Email Matt Hoobler:…