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SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Bureau of Land Management interns retraced history this week, traversing a desolate stretch of Utah desert blazed infamously by the Donner Party in 1846.
The modern-day group walked large sections of the Hastings Cutoff while live tweeting and videotaping the trek.
“The 90-mile waterless stretch of the Hastings Cutoff is what led to [the Donner Party’s] demise,” said Bureau of Land Management new media lead Chad Douglas. “It really held them up and wound up taking them much longer than they initially anticipated, which is why they wound up in the Sierras so late in the year.”
Only 48 of the 87 pioneers in the group made it to California alive, some turning to cannibalism in the Sierra Nevada to survive the harsh winter conditions.
Interns Hannah Cowan, Jared Lundquist and Michael Knight joined Douglas and endured nearly 100-degree temperatures during the three-day voyage.
“You could see the heat waves all over the ground, mirages off in the distance,” Cowan said. “The mountains looked like they were floating.”
The group stayed on the trail by following t-rail markers and other historic white markers while keeping their eyes on Pilot Peak.
Knight said the hike was taxing mentally, since it was “just straight, flat and monotonous.”
Douglas said though modern-day safety precautions were employed and stops for food and water were made along the way, the group strived to make the experience as authentic as possible for the interns.
“We don’t want to be too rough on our interns, but they did hike large sections of the trail and we tried to stick to the time frame that the immigrants actually had as well,” he said.
The interns at the end of the trek were tired and dirty, but said they appreciated the lesson in history and survival they learned along the way.
“The fact that we can get interns out there and have them experience that first-hand I think is really important and shows that we can also have fun while we’re doing it and get them excited about the great outdoors,” Douglas said.
Douglas said the group planned to take their footage in the desert and make a YouTube video documenting their experience.
