The Goodnight-Loving Trail was a trail

Trail

A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...

 used in the cattle drives of the late 1860s for the large-scale movement of Texas Longhorns

Texas longhorn (cattle)

The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...

. It is named after cattlemen Charles Goodnight

Charles Goodnight

Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...

 and Oliver Loving

Oliver Loving

Oliver Loving was a cattle rancher and pioneer of the cattle drive who with Charles Goodnight developed the Goodnight-Loving Trail. He was mortally wounded by Indians while on a cattle drive. Loving County, the smallest county in the United States in population, is named in his honor.Loving was...

.

It passed from Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, to Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, traveling through central Texas to Horsehead Crossing

Horsehead Crossing

Horsehead Crossing is a ford on the Pecos River, Crane County, Texas. Historically it was major landmark on the trail west as one of a few fordable sections of the Pecos in West Texas, and as a first source of water for about 75 miles on the route from the east.General location as marked by state...

, up along the Pecos River

Pecos River

The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...

 through New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 and north through Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 past Denver and into Wyoming.

Original trip

The trail was established in 1866 when Charles Goodnight

Charles Goodnight

Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...

 and Oliver Loving

Oliver Loving

Oliver Loving was a cattle rancher and pioneer of the cattle drive who with Charles Goodnight developed the Goodnight-Loving Trail. He was mortally wounded by Indians while on a cattle drive. Loving County, the smallest county in the United States in population, is named in his honor.Loving was...

 used the route to bring their cattle to market outside of the war-ravaged south. They brought 2,000 head of cattle from Belknap

Belknap

-Locations:In the United States:*Belknap, Illinois*Belknap, Louisville, Kentucky*Belknap County, New Hampshire**Belknap Mountain*Belknap Crater, a volcanic feature in Oregon*Belknap Hill, in Grand Rapids, Michigan*Belknap Springs, Oregon...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 to Fort Sumner

Fort Sumner

Fort Sumner was a military fort in De Baca County in southeastern New Mexico charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863-1868 at nearby Bosque Redondo.-History:...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. They then continued north to the railhead in Denver, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

.

Cultural references

• Goodnight-Loving Trail (song)
  Goodnight-Loving Trail (song)
  The Goodnight-Loving Trail is a song by Utah Phillips about the cattle trail of the same name. One of the namesakes of the trail, Charles Goodnight is also credited with inventing the chuckwagon...
  
  , a song by country artist Utah Phillips
  Utah Phillips
  Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist...
  
  
• Goodnight-Loving, a song by country artist Clint Black
  Clint Black
  Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...