 The trail was then blazed westward and northward around the Medicine Bow Range crossing the North Platte River then turning north to present day Rawlins.The trail proceeded west along the route of present Interstate 80, finally joining the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails near Granger, Wyoming.In 1850 four Cherokee/white wagon train crossed the South Platte River near present Denver, turned north pioneering a new wagon road to the Laramie Plains (US Hwy 270) .