Applegate Trail emigrants entering northern Josephine County after fording the Rogue River and climbing the south slope of Sexton Mountain confronted mountainous terrain that made progress nearly impossible. In 1846, Virgil K. Pringle lamented the steep pulls, thick timber, and underbrush, and in 1853 Ellen Burt called it the worst road. The hills between Grave and Wolf creeks and the watershed of upper Cow Creek tested even the hardiest travelers, while those with exhausted teams, dilapidated wagons, or weak spirits faced a terrible passage. On October 27, 1846, J. Quinn Thornton wrote of muddy ground, damp cold air, descending rain, lack of shelter, hunger, debility, and uncertainty, and he recalled his wife as feeble, hungry, and haggard, suffering severely during the journey.