The Pony Express Trail Route

At a distance of nearly 2000 miles, The Pony Express Trail was brutal but simple. Traveling west out of St. Joseph, Missouri they would follow The Oregon Trail from Kansas, through Nebraska and Wyoming, proceed to Fort Kearney, up the Platt River, and Scott' Bluff to Laramie, Wyoming. Then it was on to the Sweetwater River, Independence Rock, Fort Casper, South Pass, and Fort Bridger.

Next it was to Salt Lake City, Utah across the Great Basin near the Escalante Valley and into the Nevada desert, encircling Lake Tahoe, over the very rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains and into California.

The men went as fast as their Mustangs could travel, day and night. Upon arrival in Sacramento, California the mail was put on a steamer, and then it traveled the Sacramento River to San Francisco, California' Bay Area.

• The Dominguez-Escalante Expeditions Journal:

Through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in 1776

• I Walked to Zion:
- Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail

• The Gathering of Zion:
- The Story of the Mormon Trail

• National Geographic's Guide to:
- Lewis and Clark Trail

• Hiking Historic Trails
- Utah's Favorite Hiking Trails

• Scenic Driving - Travel guides
- Scenic Driving in Utah

• Historical reading
- The Old Spanish Trail

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