There are no longer muddy ruts, treacherous river crossings, waterless stretches of prairie, threats of attack from Plains Indian warriors, cholera, or run-away mule teams, but following the Santa Fe Trail is still an exciting trip.

Plan to spend the better part of a week if you want to visit state and national historic sites, walk along the wagon ruts and meet the local residents.

In the early part of the 20th century, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed stone markers along the old trail, helping to preserve it for posterity. These markers are still visible and are very helpful to tourists.

The trail officially begins in Franklin, Mo., where goods to be shipped west were offloaded from boats that steamed up the Missouri River.

There is not much left of Franklin. The old town where the trail first began in 1821 has been washed away in floods, and so was its successor. The newest Franklin is a tidy Midwestern town. It is most popular with tourists because it is a way station on a long-distance bike trail that follows the abandoned right-of-way of the Katy Railroad.

A great place to stay is across the river at the recently restored Hotel Frederick in Boonville. It's not cheap, but is very elegant and comfortable. The hotel food in Glenn's Café is excellent and the service is great. Contacts are: 660-882-2828, www.HotelFrederick.com

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See more photos and slideshow of the Santa Fe Trail in the photo gallery

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Farther west in Missouri is Arrow Rock, a national historic landmark. Many buildings here are restored to 19th century appearances. Visitors can have a country-style meal at the Huston Tavern, and tour the restored kitchen and store. Don't miss the museum at the visitors' center, which contains interesting displays about the area during the Civil War.

While in Arrow Rock, take a walk along the Missouri at the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, and imagine what the area looked like in the days when Santa Fe Trail wagons were ferried across the river there.

The village has several bed and breakfast inns. For more information: 660-837-3231, arrowrock.org

In the trail's later days, wagons started their journey farther west, nearer present-day Kansas City. Traders outfitted their wagons in Independence from 1827 to 1856.

New Mexico historian Marc Simmons isn't impressed with the historical sites there: "Unfortunately practically all the historic structures associated with overland travel have been callously demolished." Tourist information is available at: 800-748-7323, www.visitIndependence.com.

The latest trail head was at Westport Landing, now part of Kansas City.

Half of the Santa Fe Trail's length is in the state of Kansas. When driving through that state, don't miss Council Grove on the Neosho River. Travelers stopped there to cut spare axles for their wagons from the hardwood trees that grew along the river. Visit the Kaw Mission, where exhibits tell the story of one of the many groups of Native Americans who were displaced as settlers moved west.

The Hays House Restaurant is famous statewide for its good food. It was built in 1857 by the town's first settler and bills itself as the oldest continually operating restaurant west of the Mississippi.

Contact the Council Grove Chamber of Commerce at: 620-767-5882, www.councilgrove.com.

There are several hotels in the area, but if you want a taste of what ranch life is like, stay at the Heritage House at Canning Creek, a bed and breakfast west of town: 620-767-5923, www.canningcreek.com.

Plan to detour off the trail to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, a Nature Conservancy project now run by the National Park Service. Visitors can walk through the prairie, tour an imposing stone ranch house and perhaps catch a glimpse of recently reintroduced buffalo.

Kansas towns are suffering from depopulation, but many still have handsome buildings lining main street — relics of more prosperous days. It's worth leaving the main highway occasionally to explore the old towns.

Drive up to the top of Pawnee Rock, west of the modern town of Great Bend. There is a good view of the surrounding countryside from the top, as well as places to picnic. Travelers — Native Americans and Santa Fe Trail traders — left carvings here. Later, the hill became a quarry, and the inscriptions were lost.

Fort Larned is a highlight for modern-day trail followers. It was built in 1859 and many of the original stone buildings are still standing. The National Park Service has furnished them as they would have looked in trail days. Visit the infirmary, kitchen, bunkroom, officers' quarters and store houses. The Park Service holds periodic historic celebrations: 620-285-6911, www.nps.gov/fols

The fort has a small museum that tells the story of how Native Americans were betrayed again and again, in spite of treaties with the U.S. government. For more historical information, stop at the nearby Santa Fe Trail Center.

West of modern-day Dodge City, the Santa Fe Trail forked. The southern branch, the Cimarron Cutoff, traverses dry country through what today is the Oklahoma panhandle.

The Mountain Branch continues west to what is now Colorado. Near this route is Sand Creek, where hundreds of unsuspecting Cheyenne Indians were murdered by volunteer soldiers from Colorado. A national historic site run by the Park Service is open from spring to autumn.

Don't fail to stop at Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River. Built in 1833 for a trading center, burned in 1849, rebuilt more than a century later, it is an immense adobe structure, furnished as it would have looked in the 1840s.

This was never a military installation. Instead it was a trading center catering to Santa Fe Trail traders, Plains tribes and Rocky Mountain fur trappers.

Visitors can walk through rooms full of trade goods, kitchens, carpenters' and blacksmith shops, sleeping rooms and stables. National Park Service personnel wear period dress.

Special events are scheduled for tourists and local residents: 719-383-5010, www.nps.gov/beol

The Mountain Branch continued over the Ratón Pass and onto the high plains of New Mexico. It joined the Cimarrón Cutoff at Watrous. Just north are the ruins of Fort Union, also a National Park Service site.

Fort Union was abandoned in 1891. Although it is a National Park Service site, it is in a far more ruined condition than Forts Larned or Bent. However, the views of the plains from there are spectacular, worth a trip from Santa Fe. Consider a summertime candlelight tour of the site. To find out about interpretive programs: 505-425-8025, www.nps.gov/foun.

Las Vegas is hardly a long trip from Santa Fe, but consider an overnight stay at the Plaza Hotel: 505-425-3591, www.plazahotel-nm.com.

On the same historic Plaza is the house where in 1846 General Kearny read the proclamation annexing New Mexico to the United States.

Once in Santa Fe, visit the Daughters of the American Revolution monument marking the end of the trail. It stands on the southeast corner of the Plaza, and most Santa Feans have never noticed it. Also, visit the Santa Fe Trail exhibit at the state's new history museum, just behind the Palace of the Governors.

If you are planning a trip, visit the Santa Fe Trail Association's Web site: www.santafetrail.org.

The National Park Service has published a compact map of the historic trail, available at any Park Service facility along the way.

A good trail guidebook is Following the Santa Fe Trail by Marc Simmons, published by Ancient City Press. Published in the 1980s, it is hard to find at a bookstore, but is available at libraries.

If you want to follow the trail on a bicycle or just want another detailed guidebook, read The Santa Fe Trail by Bicycle, by Elaine Pinkerton, published by Red Crane Books in 1993. Copies are still available at the Travel Bug and Collected Works.

Travel has become much easier, but the Santa Fe Trail is still a great adventure.