• The Santa Fe Trail •
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Day 1 (Monday, October 3): check in to our Kansas City airport hotel. That evening we'll gather in the hotel conference room for a meet and greet with pizza, beer, and wine, and to hear an orientation talk by our tour guide.
Day 2 (Tuesday, October 4): We'll make a trip to St. Joseph to visit the Pony Express museum, and the house where Jesse James was killed. Then we'll come down the west side of the Missouri River to see some marked sites associated with Abraham Lincoln. Overnight in Kansas City.
Day 3 (Wednesday, October 5): Stops include Fort Leavenworth, cemetery and museum. Arabia Steamboat Museum. Authentic Kansas City BBQ for lunch. And because it's too good to pass up while we're in the neighborhood, we'll make a special stop at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
Day 4 (Thursday, October 6): Independence, Missouri, National Frontier Trails Museum, Gardner Junction, Black Jack Battlefield (site of John Brown's first attack, and considered by some the first battle of the Civil War)—excellent Trail Ruts. Grave of Private Sam Hunt (1835). Overnight in Council Grove.
Day 5 (Friday, October 7): Diamond Springs. Low Creek (Buffalo Bill worked here). Ralph Ruts (excellent). Plum Buttes Massacre. Fort Zarah Site. Pawnee Rock. Lunch in Great Bend. Fort Larned (a tremendous Santa Fe Trail site). Custer/Hancock and the Cheyenne Village on Pawnee Fork. Overnight in Dodge City.
Day 6 (Saturday,October 8): Forts Mann and Atkinson. Cimarron Cutoff / Santa Fe Trail ruts. Fort Aubrey Cutoff. Lamar, Big Timbers Museum. Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. 1st Fort Lyons, Bents New Fort, 2nd Fort Lyons / Carson Burial (1868) in Boggsville. Overnight in La Junta, Colorado. Evening program by John Carson, great-great grandson of Kit Carson.
Day 7 (Sunday, October 9): Bent's Old Fort (special 200th anniversary events). Sierra Vista Overlook. Santa Fe Trail at Timpas Creek. Lunch in Trinidad or Cimarron. Philmont Musuem. Fort Union. Overnight at the Historic Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Day 8 (Monday, October 10): San Jose del Vado (Santa Fe Trail crossing). San Miguel del Vado (Santa Fe Trail crossing). Pecos National Historical Park. Glorieta Pass Battlefield—Kozlowski's Ranch/Trading Post, Pigeon Ranch, Apache Canyon. Journey's End statue. Overnight in Santa Fe.
Day 9 (Tuesday, October 11): Taos Pueblo Tour (optional). Governor Charles Bent House. Kit Carson home and grave. Lunch at Taos Plaza. La Hacienda del los Martinez (early 19th-century Mexican Village). Last night dinner on the Plaza in Old Town Albuquerque. We'll drop you off at the Albuquerque airport, or you can overnight with our group at an airport hotel.
Day 2 (Tuesday, October 4): We'll make a trip to St. Joseph to visit the Pony Express museum, and the house where Jesse James was killed. Then we'll come down the west side of the Missouri River to see some marked sites associated with Abraham Lincoln. Overnight in Kansas City.
Day 3 (Wednesday, October 5): Stops include Fort Leavenworth, cemetery and museum. Arabia Steamboat Museum. Authentic Kansas City BBQ for lunch. And because it's too good to pass up while we're in the neighborhood, we'll make a special stop at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
Day 4 (Thursday, October 6): Independence, Missouri, National Frontier Trails Museum, Gardner Junction, Black Jack Battlefield (site of John Brown's first attack, and considered by some the first battle of the Civil War)—excellent Trail Ruts. Grave of Private Sam Hunt (1835). Overnight in Council Grove.
Day 5 (Friday, October 7): Diamond Springs. Low Creek (Buffalo Bill worked here). Ralph Ruts (excellent). Plum Buttes Massacre. Fort Zarah Site. Pawnee Rock. Lunch in Great Bend. Fort Larned (a tremendous Santa Fe Trail site). Custer/Hancock and the Cheyenne Village on Pawnee Fork. Overnight in Dodge City.
Day 6 (Saturday,October 8): Forts Mann and Atkinson. Cimarron Cutoff / Santa Fe Trail ruts. Fort Aubrey Cutoff. Lamar, Big Timbers Museum. Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. 1st Fort Lyons, Bents New Fort, 2nd Fort Lyons / Carson Burial (1868) in Boggsville. Overnight in La Junta, Colorado. Evening program by John Carson, great-great grandson of Kit Carson.
Day 7 (Sunday, October 9): Bent's Old Fort (special 200th anniversary events). Sierra Vista Overlook. Santa Fe Trail at Timpas Creek. Lunch in Trinidad or Cimarron. Philmont Musuem. Fort Union. Overnight at the Historic Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Day 8 (Monday, October 10): San Jose del Vado (Santa Fe Trail crossing). San Miguel del Vado (Santa Fe Trail crossing). Pecos National Historical Park. Glorieta Pass Battlefield—Kozlowski's Ranch/Trading Post, Pigeon Ranch, Apache Canyon. Journey's End statue. Overnight in Santa Fe.
Day 9 (Tuesday, October 11): Taos Pueblo Tour (optional). Governor Charles Bent House. Kit Carson home and grave. Lunch at Taos Plaza. La Hacienda del los Martinez (early 19th-century Mexican Village). Last night dinner on the Plaza in Old Town Albuquerque. We'll drop you off at the Albuquerque airport, or you can overnight with our group at an airport hotel.
COVID PROTOCOLS: beginning with our fall 2021 tours, all registrants (as well as our tour guide and bus driver) will be required to show proof of vaccination. Additionally, in the interests of safety, we'll follow CDC, state, and local COVID guidelines and recommendations for group gatherings that may be in effect at the time of the tour (to include, if required, wearing of face coverings, and social distancing).
Registration |
About our Guide |
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TOUR COSTS:
Included in your registration: 9 nights lodging in clean, comfortable hotels, most lunches (some will be "on your own"), opening night pizza/beer/wine reception, and a seat on tour van. Also included: maps packet and study material, entrance fees to all museums or other pay sites, all tours, professional coordination and assistance by your on-board tour host, and personal engagement with our expert guide throughout the trip. Snacks and bottled water will be provided on the van. $2350 per person for double-occupancy shared hotel room (if paying for both, please choose "Qty 2" in the next pop-up window) $2800 for single-occupancy hotel rooms (change the drop-down menu below to select "single occupancy")
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Neil Mangum is one of the nation’s preeminent authorities on the Santa Fe Trail and the American West, and a highly sought-after guide. His long career with the National Park Service included stints as superintendent and historian at Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, Chiricahua National Monument & Fort Bowie Historic Site in Arizona. He also served as regional historian at the NPS’s Southwest Regional Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
NPS VideosLinks to Santa Fe Trail resources
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