8 trails cross the Rocky Mountain region, including 6 National Historic Trails and a National Geologic Trail that link multiple sites, plus the North Country National Scenic Trail that is an individual park unit. Here’s a quick summary in case you are interested in exploring the trails in the region.

• Ice Age Floods NGT runs west from several sources in Montana: near Nez Perce NHP, Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS and Glacier.
• The Old Spanish NHT splits into three routes through Colorado & Utah:
  • southerly from the four corners across Glen Canyon,
  • in the middle past Mesa Verde and Arches where it joins
  • a northerly route through the Great Sand Dunes past Gunnison.
• Lewis & Clark NHT 1804-1806.
  • In South Dakota the expedition traveled north along the Missouri River from Yankton Sioux to Lakota territory.
  • In North Dakota they hired Sacagawea and her husband at Knife River.
  • In Montana they split near the Yellowstone confluence where Fort Union Trading Post was later built and rejoined near the Snake confluence where the Nez Perce NHP is now. Grant-Kohrs and Big Hole are both on their trail too.
• The Pioneer Trails all traverse Wyoming from Fort Laramie past Fossil Butte.
  • Oregon NHT 1836-1869.
  • California NHT 1841 to 1869 also crosses Colorado and Utah.
  • Mormon Pioneer NHT 1846-1847 continues to Utah.
• The Pony Express NHT 1860-1861 followed the pioneer trail through Colorado, Utah & Wyoming, but the young riders rode from Missouri to California in only 10 days.
• One terminus of the North Country NST is in North Dakota while the other is in New York.