In 1853 Sonora merchants decided to follow the example of their neighbors in Columbia. The Sonora businessmen gathered money for trail improvements and authorized a party to cross the mountains. Headed by Sonora Mayor George Washington Patrick, the party was able to convince more than two thousand emigrants to use the Walker River Trail.
Most of the emigrants were family groups with children. They usually brought a small herd of cattle along with them. Others were strictly cattlemen or sheep men, driving large herds over the trail. With ample water and feed, the southern route was a favorite with herders.
Nothing had been done to improve the trail since the Clark-Skidmore Party had come through the previous year. Emigrants found the the route criss-crossed with fallen logs, hidden by snow drifts, and littered with boulders. Many wagons were damaged or abandoned on the rugged climb up the eastern slope. At Fremont Lake they found that the Clark-Skidmore Party had dug a trench at the lower end of the lake to drain it several feet so that their wagons could skirt the shallows along one edge.
An early snowfall caught some emigrants by surprise, but with support from traders and relief parties sent out from Sonora, most were able to make it through to Sonora without serious mishap. There were a few deaths recorded along the trail, but also a number of births. Stories of babies born in lee of today's Burst Rock gave rise to the alternate name of Birth Rock for the granite peak located not far from today's Pinecrest Lake.
Late in the season a railroad survey party set out to explore the route. Among the members of the party were John Ebbetts and George Goddard. Ebbetts' account of the trail published in a San Francisco newspaper served to discourage others from using the trail the following season.