The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail is the 1,300-mile overland route from Nauvoo, on the Mississippi, across the plains and the Rockies to the Salt Lake Valley.
The Church describes the route this way:
Nauvoo is the beginning of the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, which stretches 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) from the Mississippi River across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Great Salt Lake Valley.
About 70,000 Latter-day Saints came to Utah between 1847 and 1869, when the transcontinental railroad was finished. From 1856 to 1860, about 3,000 people in ten companies came by handcart.
Discovery Road followed one family’s trail story, including Martin’s Cove and Winter Quarters, in The Mormon Trail – Black Experience.
Watch The Mormon Trail – Black Experience on Discovery Road.
The National Park Service recognizes that route as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. Official maps and site information are on the NPS Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail page. The Church tells it on its Pioneer Trail page, the Mormon Trails exhibit, and Remembering Handcart Pioneers in the Sweetwater Valley.
Trail route and official maps
The route runs through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah. For official maps and auto-tour information, use the National Park Service Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail page.
Major places along the route
The trail begins at Nauvoo, Illinois. Companies crossed Iowa to Winter Quarters, in the Florence area of present-day Omaha, Nebraska, the main 1846 to 1847 winter camp on the Missouri. West along the plains, Chimney Rock is a landmark the National Park Service names on this trail. In Wyoming the route reaches Fort Laramie, Independence Rock, and South Pass.
Martin’s Cove and the Sweetwater Valley are the Wyoming handcart sites. The route ends in the Salt Lake Valley. Surviving trail segments remain. Official maps and places to visit are on the NPS Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail page.
How the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail differs from the Heritage Area
The Heritage Area primarily interprets the central and southern Utah settlements established after the pioneer migration. The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area is a Congressionally designated heritage area and is independent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Utah settlement story is on The Mormon Colonization. The Heritage Area itself is on About.
Can you drive the Mormon Pioneer Trail?
You can drive to many sites and sections associated with the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, but the entire historic route is not one continuous modern road.
If you mean the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area in Utah, that corridor is designed to be explored by road along Highway 89, All-American Road State Route 12, and Scenic Byway State Route 24. The short answer is on Can you drive the Mormon trail?. For the corridor, use the Travel Planner.