Mountain Man encampment at Fort Lupton, on the Cherokee Trail north of Denver.

Trail historian Merrill Mattes on the Cherokee Trail at the present-day site of Cherry Creek Reservoir, southeast of Denver.

Eroded trace of the Cherokee Trail northwest of Saratoga, Wyoming.

    The Cherokee Trail connected Bent’s Old Fort, on the Santa Fe Trail, Mountain Branch, with Fort Bridger, on the Oregon-California Trail. This trail was named for Cherokee Indians who traveled to the goldfields of California in 1849 and 1850. The mulit-use trail was used by mountain men, military expeditions, goldseekers, and homesteaders.