In the spring of 1845, Palmer traveled to Oregon without his family, as captain of a wagon train of 23 wagons. Stephen Meek served as the train's paid guide. Meek left the group at Fort Hall to lead some of the members on the Meek Cutoff. The remaining parts of the wagon train reached the end of the overland Oregon Trail at the Columbia River, and unwilling to wait for transport down the dangerous Cascade Rapids, Palmer's party joined Sam Barlow's party in a quest for passage through the Cascade Range around the south side of Mount Hood. Palmer climbed to the 9,000-foot level of Mount Hood on October 7, 1845—with little food and the scant protection of moccasins—to scout a route off the mountains. This was Mount Hood's first recorded climb; the Palmer Glacier on the mountain is named for him.