Our Wednesday morning was spent at 8,573 feet above sea level for a history lesson.

Used as a trade route by Native Americans for over 2,000 years, the Carson Pass area was part of the traditional lands of the Washoe and Northern Sierra Miwok when the first European Americans visited.  Evidence of seasonal use for hunting deer, bear and other game and gathering plants as well as trade items including abalone shells, salts, and obsidian document the early presence of the bands.

In January of 1844, John C. Frémont, while in route south along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada, determined his expedition was short of supplies and made the decision to cross the mountains and resupply at Sutter’s Fort. After ignoring the warnings of local Washoe Indians, Frémont, his guide, Kit Carson, and his cartographer, Charles Preuss, and the expedition struggled through heavy snowfall to become the first white men to cross of the Sierra Nevada in the winter. On February 21, 1844, the party crossed what is now Carson Pass, west of Red Lake. All arrived safely at Sutter’s Fort on March 6, 1844 and their maps were later published and became guides for future emigrants.