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The visitor center sits in the middle of mixed grass prairie.

From the Fossil Hills Trail the Visitor Center is a ship in a sea of prairie grasses.

Agate Fossil Beds

In the early 1900s, paleontologists unearthed the Age of Mammals when they found full skeletons of extinct Miocene mammals in the hills of Nebraska -- species previously only known through fragments. At the same time, an age of friendship began betwe

A white canvas wagon sits in front of a large rock buttress with mountains in the distance.

Wagon at Register Rock in City of Rocks National Reserve

California

Follow in the footsteps of over 250,000 emigrants who traveled to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s: the greatest mass migration in American history. The California National Historic Trail is over 5,000 miles

A historic cabin stands next to a concrete path that leads to a plow shaped visitor center

The Palmer Epard Cabin and Heritage Center at Sunset

Homestead

The Homestead Act of 1862 transformed the world. Millions were invited to file claims including families, women, immigrants, and formerly enslaved people. Over 10 percent of the United States was homesteaded! The land, long inhabited by indigenous cu

Small waterfall with brown rocks and green moss

Giant springs is a site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Site located in Great Falls, Montana

Lewis & Clark

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail winds nearly 4,900 miles through the homelands of more than 60 Tribal nations. It follows the historic outbound and inbound routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvani

Aerial view of the Missouri River and surrounding landscape.

Missouri

Imagine a 100-mile stretch of North America's longest river, a vestige of the untamed American West. The Missouri National Recreational River is where imagination meets reality. Two free flowing stretches of the Missouri make up the National Park. Re

Red cliffs line a highway as seen from a high point with grass in the foreground.

Echo Canyon on the way from Wyoming to Salt Lake City, Utah is both beautiful and historic.

Mormon Pioneer

Explore the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail across five states to see the 1,300-mile route traveled by Mormons who fled Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1846-1847.

Berry Falls is one of over 200 waterfalls that visitors may see along the Niobrara National Scenic River's bluffs.

Niobrara

With a little something for everyone, the Niobrara National Scenic River is a destination for crossing adventures off your bucket list. Most popular for river recreation, you can float the Niobrara River on a canoe, tube, or kayak as a beginner and h

A wagon swale is cut deep into limestone rock with trees in background.

The Guernsey Ruts in Wyoming feature deeply eroded rock from wagon traffic.

Oregon

Imagine yourself an emigrant headed for Oregon: would promises of lush farmlands and a new beginning lure you to leave home and walk for weeks? More than 2,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen along the Oregon National Historic Trail

A rider in a red vest on a horse in a grassy patch surrounded by sagebrush with clouds in the sky.

A National Pony Express Association rider poses at Simpson Springs in Utah.

Pony Express

It is hard to believe that young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only 10 days. This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail in eight states was the most direct and practi

Thousands of covered wagons rolled by Eagle Rock in the mid nineteenth century.

Scotts Bluff

Towering 800 feet above the North Platte River, Scotts Bluff has served as a landmark for peoples from Native Americans to emigrants on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails to modern travelers. Rich with geological and paleontological history as