In the mid-1800s, the enticement of free land and reports of “gold for the taking” brought a flood of humanity across the Great Plains to the West. It was an arduous 6-month journey that required crossing the vast and foreboding deserts of Nevada, and weary settlers were eager to find the easiest path to the California gold fields. Join us for an epic adventure as we retrace one of the most infamous of these routes, the Applegate-Lassen Trail—later known as The Death Trail. We’ll cross the Black Rock Desert and thread our way through High Rock Canyon, visiting natural hot springs, pioneer petroglyphs, and little-known sites such as Murder Rock. This will be an open-itinerary exploration of the region, setting camp at dusk as the pioneers did, moving on when the sun comes up after a hot cup of joe from the chuck wagon.