<P> Travelers faced many hardships along the Santa Fe Trail . The trail was a challenging 900 miles ( 1,400 km ) of arid plains , desert , and mountains . The natural climate was and is continental ; very hot and dry summers , coupled with long and bitterly cold winters . Freshwater was scarce , and the high steppe - like plains are nearly treeless . Water flows in the Pecos , Arkansas , Cimarron , and Canadian rivers that drain the region vary by 90 or more percent in their flows during an average year . Also on this trail , unlike the Oregon trail , there was a serious danger of Native American attacks , for neither the Comanches nor the Apaches of the southern high plains tolerated trespassers . In 1825 , Congress voted for federal protection for the Santa Fe Trail , even though much of it lay in the Mexican territory . Lack of food and water also made the trail very risky . Weather conditions , like huge lightning storms , gave the travelers even more difficulty . If a storm developed , there was often no place to take shelter and the livestock could get spooked . Rattlesnakes often posed a threat , and many people died due to snakebite . The caravan size increased later on to prevent Native American raids . The travelers also packed more oxen instead of mules because the Native Americans did not want to risk raiding the caravans only for some oxen . </P>
<P> Travelers faced many hardships along the Santa Fe Trail . The trail was a challenging 900 miles ( 1,400 km ) of arid plains , desert , and mountains . The natural climate was and is continental ; very hot and dry summers , coupled with long and bitterly cold winters . Freshwater was scarce , and the high steppe - like plains are nearly treeless . Water flows in the Pecos , Arkansas , Cimarron , and Canadian rivers that drain the region vary by 90 or more percent in their flows during an average year . Also on this trail , unlike the Oregon trail , there was a serious danger of Native American attacks , for neither the Comanches nor the Apaches of the southern high plains tolerated trespassers . In 1825 , Congress voted for federal protection for the Santa Fe Trail , even though much of it lay in the Mexican territory . Lack of food and water also made the trail very risky . Weather conditions , like huge lightning storms , gave the travelers even more difficulty . If a storm developed , there was often no place to take shelter and the livestock could get spooked . Rattlesnakes often posed a threat , and many people died due to snakebite . The caravan size increased later on to prevent Native American raids . The travelers also packed more oxen instead of mules because the Native Americans did not want to risk raiding the caravans only for some oxen . </P>
what was the terrain like on the santa fe trail
what was the terrain like on the santa fe trail
plains desert mountains
plains desert mountains