Alone Along the Outlaw Trail
The Outlaw Trail was employed, enjoyed and inhabited by desperadoes whose primary purpose was to delay detection and avoid arrest. Unlike the other historic arteries coursing through the United States, the Outlaw Trail was the only one specifically meant for equestrian travellers. It was so rugged, extreme, dangerous, life-threatening and remote that pedestrians, oxen, wagons, cattle, women, children, any and all of the elements that defined normal 19th century American travel, were discouraged from ever using it. It was, in a word, a track that desperate men on bold horses undertook when presented with situations requiring extreme measures.
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In June, 1899, Roger Pocock set out to ride the length of the Outlaw Trail alone. The unarmed Englishman boldly rode into Butch Cassidy’s Hole-In-The-Wall hideout. Pocock recounted his incredible adventures in his exciting book, Following the Frontier. |
| Beginning at Fort MacLeod, Canada, the Outlaw Trail traversed the USA and ended at Mexico City, Mexico. This map shows many of the places found along the trail. Pocock, who successfully rode 4,800 kilometres (3,000 miles) along the Outlaw Trail, is the only person known to have travelled its entire length. |
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