National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 208 | Exploring the Oregon Trail

By Jess Repanshek - February 5th, 2023

It is one of the longest units of the National Park System in the country. "It," of course, is the Oregon National Historic Trail, which stretches more than 2,100 miles from Missouri to Oregon. It’s been estimated that between 1840 and 1860 some 300,000-400,000 men, women, and children embarked on the four-month-long trip to head to the West Coast. It was long, arduous, and deadly.

Many died of cholera, conflict, and accidents. Today there are places where you can still see the ruts these endless wagon trains made as they headed west from Missouri, across Nebraska and Wyoming, before the trail split in two with one leg heading to Oregon, and the other to California.

A new book, Exploring The Oregon Trail, America's Historic Road Trip, can help you explore sections of the trail, or the entire trail if you have the time, and key points along the journey. It was written by Kay and David Scott, longtime national park travelers and park lodging experts. They are with us today discussing this guidebook.

For additional information on the Oregon Trail, listen to Episode 177 from the Traveler's podcast library: Following The Oregon Trail At Scotts Bluff.

And to gain a sense of the Oregon Trail in central Wyoming, check out this video from Traveler's archives:

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
:57 Almost Home - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
1:22 Yosemite Conservancy
1:45 Friends of Acadia
2:10 Great Smoky Mountains Association
2:33 Exploring The Oregon Trail, America's Historic Road Trip with authors David and Kay Scott
11:54 The Road Scholar - Bill Mize - The Spirit of South Dakota
12:08 Traveler Promo
12:20 Interior Federal Credit Union
12:37 The Everglades Foundation
12:49 Washington’s National Park Fund
13:24 Exploring the Oregon Trail with David and Kay Scott continues
22:23 The Offering - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
22:35 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
23:04 Potrero Group
23:31 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
23:54 Exploring the Oregon Trail with David and Kay Scott continues
38:05 The Horseman - Randy Petersen - The Spirit of South Dakota
39:02 Episode Closing
39:31 Orange Tree Productions
40:03 Splitbeard Productions
40:15 National Parks Traveler footer

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Oregon National Historic Trail

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 322 | Congressman Jared Huffman

The first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term might be the most tumultuous first 100 days of any president. He certainly came in prepared to move his agenda forward, no matter what barriers to it existed.

We don’t usually discuss presidential politics, but President Trump has released a blizzard of executive orders and directives touching all corners of the federal government, including the National Park Service.

April 27th, 2025 Read More

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There has been much upheaval in the National Park Service this year, with firings, then rehires, and staff deciding to retire now rather than risk sticking around and being fired. There have been fears that more Park Service personnel are about to be let go through a reduction in force.

While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered the Park Service to ensure that parks are properly to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit,” that message said nothing about protecting park resources.

April 20th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 320 | George Wright Society

George Melendez Wright was a brilliant young scientist with the National Park Service back in the 1920s and 1930s. You could say he was ahead of his time, in that he wanted the Park Service to take a holistic role in how wildlife in the parks was managed.

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 319 | Kilauea's Unrest

One of the greatest shows on Earth has been going on now for several months in Hawaii, where the Kīlauea volcano at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park has been erupting since late December. The Kīlauea volcano is the most active volcano on Earth.

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 318 | Covering the Parks

There are more stories to be found in the National Park System than one could write in a lifetime. Or several lifetimes.

Sometimes those stories can be hard to spot. How many were aware of the factoid from Great Smoky Mountains National Park that Jennifer Bain dug up, that if you stacked up all of the park’s salamanders against its roughly 1,900 black bears, the salamanders would weigh more?

Talk about national park trivia.

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