Here there are actually two trails -- one on each side of the river. Near the highway on this south shore the "heavy sand" route that bypassed Three Crossings would have passed. The main route would be in the hills north of the river here. A few miles more to the west it would cross back to the south side at Fifth Crossing. Staying here on the south side thus avoided a total of four river crossings, but at the cost of slow travel through heavy sand.