The first step for most would-be miners would be crossing the three thousand or so miles between where they were and where the gold was. Many simply hitched up the wagon and traveled overland. A straightforward enough journey until one got past the Mississippi River, after which loomed an uninhabited, uncharted, unknown wilderness. Dust storms, snow storms, mysterious Indians, and arid desert awaited. For those on the eastern seaboard, a logical alternative was by sea. The 13,000 mile pilgrimage around South America via Cape Horn could consume over a year and entail sea-sickness, scurvy, and, worst of all, monotony.