About this place
The Bidwell-Bartleson party were the first overland emigrants to reach California, in 1841. This route is the way they went.
At Fort Hall, near present-day Pocatello, about half of them changed their minds. They went to Oregon instead.
The rest carried on west, along the north shore of the Great Salt Lake. Nobody had mapped that route, and there was very little water on it.
They crossed the desert west of the lake, near Wendover, and abandoned their wagons there.
With the animals that survived, they found a way through the Ruby Mountains to the Humboldt River. From there they climbed the Sierra Nevada, near the Walker River, and dropped into California.
Most of them were close to dead from hunger and exhaustion by the time they got through to anywhere that could feed them.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Interstate 84, Exit 5 at Curlew Junction. Head west on SR 30, then turn southeast onto Dove Creek Rd.
Coordinates 41.72552778, -113.3856111
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- George Peak Directions
- Hogup Cave Directions
- California National Historic Trail (NHT), Hastings Cutoff Directions
- California National Historic Trail (NHT), Salt Lake Cut-Off Directions
- Smoky Mountain Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Snowville, UT Directions
- Burley, ID Directions
Burley is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.