National Historic Trails - Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

Jurisdiction: National Park Service
Established: 1990
Route: 1,200 miles (1,930 km)

In 1775, a party of Spanish colonists led by Col. Juan Bautista de Anza set out from Mexico to establish an overland route to California. They sought to build a presidio and mission overlooking the Golden Gate and secure it from threats by the Russians and British. This party of 30 families, a dozen soldiers, and 1,000 cattle, horses, and mules spent three months traversing the deserts of the Southwest before reaching the missions of the California coast. Another three months were spent traveling up the Pacific coast to the Golden Gate where the city of San Francisco now stands. In 1975 and 1976, an expedition re-enactment took place from Horcasitas, Mexico, to San Francisco.