1 Nephi 8:1

1 And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind.

They obviously realized they would be traveling for some time. They brought seeds of every kind, presumably so they could plant crops and reap the harvest. That implies that they would stay in an area long enough to do that. Later on we read that they were in the wilderness for eight years.