Historic Trails

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A cyclist in a yellow shirt on a red bike rides through a rolling meadow near a trail sign with the Juan Bautista de Anza NHT logo sticker on it below a brown arrow marker and brown icon of two people hiking

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

  Established: August 15, 1990 Managing Nonprofits: The Anza Trail Foundation, The Anza Trail Coalition of Arizona Managing Agency: National Park Service   In 1775, Lt Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza led thirty families of Spanish, Indigenous, and African heritage through the Sonoran Desert, across…

Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

  Established: September 8, 1980 Managing Nonprofit: Overmountain Victory Trail Association Managing Agency: National Park Service     The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail traces the route used by the patriot militia during the pivotal Kings Mountain campaign of 1780, which led to a turn…

Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail

  Established: January 24, 2000 Managing Nonprofit: Ala Kahakai Trail Association, E Mau Na Ala Hele Managing Agency: National Park Service   The name “Ala Kahakai” means “trail by the sea” in Hawaiian and this is no misnomer. The Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail follows…

California National Historic Trail

  Established: August 3, 1992 Managing Nonprofit: Oregon-California Trails Association Managing Agency: National Park Service   The California National Historic Trail follows in the footsteps (and wagon ruts) of more than 250,000 emigrants who made their way across the continental United States during the 1840s…

Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail

  Established: December 19, 2006 Managing Nonprofit: Chesapeake Conservancy Managing Agency: National Park Service   The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (CJSCNHT) serves to commemorate the routes taken by the Englishman for whom the trail was named during his exploratory voyages from 1607-1609.…

El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail

  Established: October 18, 2004 Managing Nonprofit: El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association Managing Agency: National Park Service   When Frenchman, René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, set sail from Western Louisiana in search of the mouth of the Mississippi…

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail

  Established: October 13, 2000 Managing Nonprofit: CARTA Trail Association Managing Agency: National Park Service   The trail known today as the El Camino Real de Tiera Adentro (CARTA) National Historic Trail was the only link New Mexico had to the rest of the North…

Iditarod National Historic Trail

  Established: November 10, 1978 Managing Nonprofit: Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance Managing Agency: Bureau of Land Management   The Iditarod National Historic Trail is the only winter trail in the National Trails System. The Trail marks a string of mining camps, trading posts, and other…

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

  Established: November 10, 1978 Managing Nonprofit: Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Lewis and Clark Trust Managing Agency: National Park Service   The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail follows the historic routes traveled by the Lewis and Clark Expedition between 1803 and 1806…

Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail

  Established: November 10, 1978 Managing Nonprofit: Mormon Trails Association Managing Agency: National Park Service   Driven out of Missouri in 1838, early Mormons settled along the Missouri River in Illinois. The community they established was called “Nauvoo,” which  is a Hebrew word meaning “beautiful…