California Trail Auto Tours

June 5th, 2026 only

Registration for this event has closed.

Join us on an off-road tour or hike to visit historic local areas of the California Trail

On Friday June 5^th several one-day limited participation auto tours are planned to view segments of the California National Historic Trail where thousands of emigrants in covered wagons traveled westward between 1849 and 1870.

Most of the tours have requirements that must be met to bring your own vehicle. ALL tours have a limit on the number of vehicles that we can accept. All tours will take the majority of the day. All tours are to remote locations. Your vehicle should have a good set of tires with a full-size spare, a full tank of gas, and a jack. See tour descriptions below for more details and requirements.

Can’t/don’t want to bring a vehicle? Ride-alongs are welcome based on available passenger space.

There is no fee, and a box lunch, water, and snacks will be provided.

Tours/Hikes available:

Gravelly Ford Auto Tour

Limited to 5 private vehicles.
High Clearance 4WD required
Plan to be gone all day. We expect to be back at the Trail Center by 5:30 pm

This tour will view pristine trail ruts and swales left by Ox drawn wagons and the site of the “Unknown Emigrant Graves” at Gravelly Ford now subject to Conservation Easements. The tour site is mostly on private property on the east side of Nevada route 306, part of the Horseshoe Ranch, owned by Nevada Gold Mines.

The tour will be limited to 5 private vehicles (high clearance 4WD required), those without a 4WD vehicle are welcome based on available passenger space. Those selected to drive should have a good set of tires, a full tank of gas, a spare tire and a jack.

The event will start at 8:00 am in the South Fork Room at the California Trail Interpretive Center. We begin with tour instructions, signing of waivers, a brief history on emigrant travel, how the conservation easements evolved and the showing of the video: “On the California Trail Preserving Gravelly Ford”. We will then caravan west on I-80 to the Beowawe exit 261, south to the ranch gate. We plan to be back to the Trail Center by 5:30 pm.

Those wishing to participate should plan on appropriate clothing, it’s June in the high desert, hats, boots, sunscreen, folding chair, etc. We will be traveling on open range land, not much shade, lots of dust and cattle may be present.

Secret Pass Tour

Limited to 8 private vehicles.
Meetup: 8:30 am in California Trail Center parking lot. (look for Secret Pass sign)
This tour is expected to take 3/4 of the day.

We will travel two viable alternative short-cuts for the Hastings Cutoff wagon route. Either will be seen as more favorable and would have saved several days to Lansford Hasting’s long journey south to get to the Humboldt River that was north.

This scenic trip will include Secret Pass into Ruby Valley, then north through Clover Valley to the California Emigrant Trail at Wells. An option will include a visit to the privately owned site of Fort Halleck on the way back.

Carlin Canyon Tour

Limited to 8 private vehicles.
High Clearance and AWD required.
Meetup: 8:30 am in California Trail Center parking lot. (look for Carlin Canyon sign)
This tour is expected to take 3/4 of the day.

Join us to learn about the history and geology of the California Trail in the Carlin area. Heading west from the California Trail Interpretive Center, this tour will stop at Carlin Canyon, the Carlin Historical Society Museum, and visible remains of the emigrant trail.

Ruby Valley Tour

Limited to 10 private vehicles.
Meetup: 8:30 am in California Trail Center parking lot. (look for Ruby Valley sign)
This tour is expected to take about 8 hours and covers about 210 miles

This tour will travel along the Hastings Cutoff/California Trail from US-93 south of Wells, along State Route 229 and Elko County Road 788, into Ruby Valley, over Overland Pass, travel thru Jiggs and back to Elko along State Route 228 and State Route 227. We will see portions of the emigrant trail that exists today and examine doing research using emigrant trail journals to assist in finding trail location and landscape features that the emigrants mentioned in their journals/diaries between 1846-1850.

~~Greenhorn Cutoff Hike~~

Unfortunately this tour and hike has been cancelled.