In the Footsteps of Lewis & Clark
From the Great Falls to the Bitterroots
This is a series of blog posts about our adventures in Montana and Idaho in 2007, sharing experiences, thoughts, and photos about Lewis & Clark, the land they encountered, and what we encountered too!
Day 1: Great Falls and the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center
|
Liz with the Missouri River in the background, at the Lewis & Clark Interpetive Center in Great Falls |
We set out early for our journey to the westward country with Captain Lewis and Captain Clark. It was great to be headed back to Lewis & Clark country. Our flights and connections from Austin to Great Falls, Montana, our starting point, were all perfect and by lunchtime we had arrived to a spectacular sunny, crisp, and mild day.
Swung by the rent car counter for our way-cool Subaru Outback and tooled off to begin our long-dreamed-of vacation. The first order of business was lunch, and fast! We dined at Hardee's, where we got juicy hamburgers, read the local paper, and encountered the first of many flies that would share pretty much every meal we had in the Big Sky Country. Montana is still very wild, and the cities and towns are small. It is simply impossible to keep the critters from invading everything.
We decided to kick off our trip with a visit to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. We had visited here during our 2003 tour, and we were excited to return with the time to explore this fine facility at our own pace.
The center has a beautiful overlook and nature trail along the Missouri River. Inside, there are extensive exhibits about Lewis & Clark's journey and the Indians they encountered. I especially enjoyed the natural history exhibits that showed buffalo, bear, and other animals they encountered (and in some cases discovered). We also watched a good Ken Burns film summarizing the journey, and viewed a special exhibit of fascinating photographs of the Umatilla Indians by a turn-of-the-century photographer named Lee Moorhouse.
|
Full-size exhibit of the back-breaking labor of the portage
|
Mary getting in touch with Native American culture |
The most interesting thing, though, was the opportunity to visit with local historian Jim Ray, who was at the center demonstrating and explaining amazing old weapons, both white and Indian. He showed us the use of the atlatl, an Indian spear-throwing tool, and explained how bullets were made in the field. It was all quite different from what we all think we know from watching old Westerns.
Our hotel was the La Quinta, a nice quiet place with a great location along the beautiful riverfront park. We ate supper at the adjoining MacKenzie River Pizza restaurant, then capped off the day holding our feet in the soft cool grass and watching the red ball of the sun sink into the wide Missouri. Glad we're back in Montana.
Day 2: The C.M. Russell Museum and the Great Falls of the Missouri
|
Bob Scriver statue of Charlie Russell at the C.M. Russell Museum |
Last time we were in Great Falls, we missed the Charlie Russell Museum out of sheer ignorance, and had to spend the whole trip listening to the other people on the tour talk about how great it was. The desire to see the museum was one of our main reasons for coming back to Great Falls.
While my expectations were high, I was even more impressed than I expected to be with the size and beauty of this first-rate museum, which showcases the life and work of Charlie Russell (1864-1926), the consummate artist of the American West. Russell arrived in Montana at age 16, the disaffected son of a prosperous St. Louis family. His folks figured a summer out west would cure their boy's restlessness and get him ready to enter the family business. Instead, Russell immediately fell in love with the people and landscapes of the West. He immersed himself in the life of a working cowboy. A few years later, he also awakened to a desire to draw and paint what he was experiencing.
The museum's numerous galleries showcase Russell's work from these early efforts through the flowering of his art and international success. Russell's career spanned decades, and it's safe to say that he created a unique and personal body of work that documents a way of life that was already vanishing when he arrived on the scene. Far from mere "cowboy pictures," the work of Charlie Russell is not only amazingly technically proficient, but full of deep humor, empathy, and pathos.
We spent hours viewing hundreds of Russell's great story paintings, as well as little sculptures, whimsical illustrations, and his wonderfully humorous letters (what a delight it must have been to be this man's friend!). We also learned about the critical role his wife Nancy played in his success (no businessman, he). In addition, we viewed the collection of works by O.C. Seltzer, temporary exhibits of the paintings of Blackfeet artist Gary Schildt and sculptor Bob Scriver, and a great collection of firearms.
Best of all, the museum also includes Russell's small but beautiful home and the log cabin studio in which he worked. His wife had the studio built next door to get him out of the house. His collection of Indian and western artifacts, paints, equipment, and the rustic space where he painted were much the same as he left them when he died. It was easy to feel very close to Russell here.
You could easily spend the whole day here, but we eventually tore ourselves away and headed north of town to visit Ryan Dam, the site of the Great Falls of the Missouri. Our drive took us through a featureless landscape of flat, dry, yellow fields. The rough, potholed road featured a road sign that made us laugh: ROUGH BREAKS AHEAD. Isn't it the truth?
As we neared the dam, heading once more towards the river, we started to see more trees, as well as ranches and residences. At Ryan Dam, we parked and carried our picnic cooler across a narrow suspension footbridge that leads to a idyllic park at the base of the dam. Enjoyed sandwiches, bananas, and Cokes along with a light breeze, the roar of the falls, and the sight of other people having a good time here.
|
|
A short walk takes you to a good spot to observe the dam and the falls. Meriwether Lewis loved this "sublimely grand" spectacle above all the things he discovered, and even with the dam and the power station here, the tumbling water is incredibly beautiful. It also caused the Corps to make a grueling 18-mile portage that took a month out of the precious travel season of 1805. In To the Ends of the Earth, we have a scene in which we have Lewis talk about his feelings about the Great Falls to some drinking companions, years after the expedition:
“Well, the Missouri River, as you approach its headwaters, culminates in five great waterfalls. I had gone ahead of the party, as a scout...I came upon the first one at about two in the afternoon. I could hear the roar, and see enormous clouds of mist rising from the river before I saw the falls itself.” Lewis shivered in the memory and blinked unexpected tears from his eyes. “It was truly the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen. As tall as the tallest tree you can imagine...it stretched across the expanse of the whole wide river. An enormous cataract, the water tumbling down in a veritable ocean, frothing white.”
He looked at their rapt faces. “And that wasn’t the end of it. There were four more just like it, not so grand but equally beautiful, over the next ten miles of the river. We had to tote everything we had, literally tons of goods, over about eighteen miles of rough and rocky country, just to get around ’em. At the time, I sometimes wished they didn’t exist — Lord, they caused us an awful lot of trouble! — but to me, those waterfalls are truly the most sublime thing on this earth.”
We soaked it all in for a while and would have stayed even longer had not a stiff breeze kicked up dust and haze from the area's wildfires. It was a good reminder of how Montana can be a wild place in which the land and weather should be treated with respect. Later, we found out that the wind caused a big grass fire quite nearby.
We headed back to the La Quinta and had a dip in the hot tub and pool, then a very nice dinner at Applebee's near the hotel. It was too smoky to sit out and watch the sunset this evening.
Day 3: Giant Springs, Fort Benton, Decision Point, and Virgelle
Awoke this morning of our vacation to a red ball of a sunrise. Haze and ash from yesterday's grass fire swirled in the air and peppered our car.
|
|
This morning we spent some time hanging out at Giant Springs, a beautiful site along the Missouri River that was encountered by Captain Clark in 1805. Giant Springs is a place of superlatives. Not only is the cascading water spectacularly scenic, it is also the largest freshwater springs in the world, disgorging over 150,000 gallons a day into the Missouri via an outlet called the Roe River, which is in its turn the world's shortest river.
The water, which comes from a aquifer that runs through the mountains, is rich in calcium and magnesium, making it a great place for a state fish hatchery. We took a look at the facility where rainbow trout are raised from eggs and planted in Montana's lakes, and viewed some neat display fish in the "show pond," including albino and blue variations.
|
Old Shep. Was it love or cookies that made him so loyal? The Grand Union Hotel is in the background. |
After we had enjoyed bird-watching in the green shady park for a while, we said goodbye to Great Falls for now and headed north for Fort Benton, a drive that took us about 45 miles over low rolling hills covered in dry yellow grass, with nary a tree in sight. By the time we got to Fort Benton it was lunchtime, so we once again broke out the cooler and had a great picnic along the banks of the Missouri, near the statue of Old Shep, Fort Benton's faithful dog that captivated the nation in the 1930s by meeting every train for more than five years, supposedly in hopes of being reunited with his deceased master.
After lunch we had a great stroll along the river. Fort Benton has a classic view of the Missouri straight out of Ken Burns, and lots to see, including a wonderful Lewis & Clark statue by Bob Scriver, a replica keelboat that was used in the movie The Big Sky, and historical markers telling all about Fort Benton's roaring times as one of the nation's major inland ports in the 1870s and 1880s. Some of the landmark buildings, such as the Grand Union hotel (of which more in the next entry) date from this era. Fort Benton was not only the center of river trade, but was also the terminus of the illegal whiskey trading route to Canada known as the "Whoop-Up Trail." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had their origins in efforts to stop this trade.
The amazing boom times at Fort Benton came to an abrupt end in the 1880s when the railroad put an end to the steamboat era forever. Now it's a sleepy place with very nice and friendly people eager to share the town's history with you and curious about visitors.
We decided to visit a new interpretive center for the Upper Missouri Breaks to get ready for our White Cliffs boat cruise tomorrow. The center is a handsome place where you can watch a film and look at some exhibits about the geography and history of the river. It was somewhat informative but a little light on content.
From what we gathered from talking to local people on the trip, Montana was overbuilt with expensive tourist attractions in anticipation of the Lewis & Clark bicentennial, but the hoped-for throngs of people never showed up. I couldn't help but wonder if this was one of those boondoggles. Next time I'm in Fort Benton, I think I'll spend some time visiting the reconstructed historic fort and its associated museums instead.
|
|
We headed out of town towards the town of Loma and the famous Decision Point, the confluence of the Missouri and Marias Rivers. Here, Lewis and Clark spent nine days making one of the most fateful decisions of their trip as they figured out which of the two rivers was the true Missouri. We were here once before, with a big tour group; today, as we hiked up to the lonely, windswept overlook, we were the only people in sight in a vast landscape. I wonder whether the isolation and remoteness we felt was akin to that weighing on the captains, or if the bustle and cheer of the men in camp made the place more like it was when we were here with the group?
I learned something new on this trip about Decision Point. When you look at Decision Point, it's a little bit puzzling why Lewis and Clark had such a hard time determining which river was the Missouri and which was the tributary. The two rivers are very different in size, though part of this is attributable to modern-day damming of the Marias.
But why were Lewis and Clark so floored to find this river? Why didn't the Indians, whom Lewis and Clark interviewed during their winter stay at Fort Mandan, mention anything about another major river? It turns out that the Marias happened to be in flood stage that June of 1805 when Lewis and Clark were here, swelling it to a much larger size than it normally appeared even back then. The Indians hadn't bothered to mention it, and if the river had appeared as it usually does, Lewis and Clark would not have been confused and the Expedition would have saved more than a week of travel time!
The biggest adventure of the day was trekking to Virgelle, a tiny ghost town eight miles off Highway 87 down a gravel road. Here a wonderful guy named Don Sorenson operates a bed and breakfast in an old general store that operated from 1912 to 1970. He has relocated a number of old homesteader cabins on the property that are also available for rent, and everything is crammed with cool antiques that you can buy. Besides the Merc and the cabins, the only buildings remaining in Virgelle are the grain elevator and the old bank building, where Don lives. The business caters to people like us who are going to canoe or float the Wild and Scenic Missouri.
|
The Virgelle Merc. This 1912 pressed-tin building is now a wonderful B&B in a truly remote spot. |
On the inside, the Virgelle Merc is beautiful and homey, like a trip back in time to grandma's house. Don greeted us like long-lost friends and generously made up a plate of cheese and crackers, salami, apples, and great lentil salad for us when he found out we hadn't had any dinner. We had a great time relaxing and looking at everything. In our room, everything was cute and cozy and "just so." What a treat to stay here.
Before turning in, we had the opportunity to meet Roni, a very vivacious lady from New Jersey who will be our companion tomorrow as we explore the White Cliffs of the Missouri!
Day 4: The White Cliffs of the Missouri
|
|
This was one of the biggest days we've had in the course of our Lewis & Clark travels over the past four years.
We awoke at the Virgelle Merc to a cool, crisp, beautiful day. The breakfast that Don served was amazing: a big poofy baked French toast with bananas and cream cheese, homemade whole hog sausage, and fresh fruit. Yum!
Don loaded us up in his van and took us to the Virgelle Ferry landing on the Missouri River, where we met Bill, our river guide for the day and the proprietor of the Missouri Breaks River Company. Bill is a rugged and straightforward man who appears to be in his 50s. He turned out to be extremely knowledgable about the geography, plants, animals, history, and politics of this region, and very easy to talk with over a long day trip together. Bill uses a small inland jet boat to cruise the White Cliffs and Missouri Breaks section of the Missouri. This trip was perfect for people like us and Roni, who want very much to see the region but perhaps don't have the time or the physical conditioning for a multi-day canoe trip.
A big Labrador black dog at the ferry landing, reminiscent of Seaman, saw us off. As we entered the national monument, we learned how the cliffs were formed geologically and how Lewis & Clark and their weary men must have found them to be a delightful novelty after traveling for days through the scrubby mud hills of the Montana badlands. As a national monument, this section of the river is governed by strict rules about its use, such as traveling at "no-wake" speed. We slowly putted down river (the opposite direction from how Lewis & Clark saw it) and enjoyed a clear, bright, and beautiful day.
|
|
I'd write my own description of the White Cliffs, but it's impossible to better what Meriwether Lewis wrote in 1805:
The hills and river Clifts which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance. The bluffs of the river rise to the hight of from 2 to 300 feet and in most places nearly perpendicular; they are formed of remarkable white sandstone which is sufficiently soft to give way readily to the impression of water; two or thre thin horizontal stratas of white free-stone, on which the rains or water make no impression, lie imbeded in these clifts of soft stone near the upper part of them; the earth on the top of these Clifts is a dark rich loam, which forming a graduly ascending plain extends back from ½ a mile to a mile where the hills commence and rise abruptly to a hight of about 300 feet more.
|
|
The water in the course of time in decending from those hills and plains on either side of the river has trickled down the soft sand clifts and woarn it into a thousand grotesque figures, which with the help of a little immagination and an oblique view at a disance, are made to represent eligant ranges of lofty freestone buildings, having their parapets well stocked with statuary; collumns of various sculpture both grooved and plain, are also seen supporting long galleries in front of those buildings; in other places on a much nearer approach and with the help of less immagination we see the remains or ruins of eligant buildings; some collumns standing and almost entire with their pedestals and capitals; others retaining their pedestals but deprived by time or accident of their capitals, some lying prostrate an broken othes in the form of vast pyramids of connic structure bearing a sereis of other pyramids on their tops becoming less as they ascend and finally terminating in a sharp point. nitches and alcoves of various forms and sizes are seen at different hights as we pass. a number of the small martin which build their nests with clay in a globular form attatched to the wall within those nitches, and which were seen hovering about the tops of the <broken> collumns did not the less remind us of some of those large stone buildings in the U' States. the thin stratas of hard freestone intermixed with the soft sandstone seems to have aided the water in forming this curious scenery.
|
|
As we passed on it seemed as if those seens of visionary inchantment would never have an end; for here it is too that nature presents to the view of the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable workmanship, so perfect indeed are those walls that I should have thought that nature had attempted here to rival the human art of masonry had I not recollected that she had first began her work.
|
|
It was amazing as we made our way slowly through this remarkable treasure, just me, Mary, Bill, and Roni. Aside from a couple of rangers at a pit stop and a handful of canoeists, we had the river to ourselves all day with just cows and cliff swallows for companions.
|
|
Most of the day we floated, looked, and talked (and ate a yummy lunch that was packed by Don). We stopped at Eagle Creek, a Lewis & Clark campsite, and took a short hike to the creek (fragrant fresh sage here). Another stop was at Hole in the Wall, a famous rock formation that forms an "eye of the needle." Bill and Roni hiked to the top, but since Mary had hurt ankles, we skipped the hot and grueling climb and just loafed around the boat. It was so quiet and peaceful that you could hear the beating of birds' wings as they flew overhead. We also had a cool and soothing swim in the mossy Missouri at the Lewis & Clark campsite called Slaughter River, and found some big river mussels that looked like giant clams.
|
Hole in the Wall. Lewis and Clark probably never saw this; it is hardly noticable when traveling upstream as they did. |
Lest it all sound too Edenic, let me state that this river is also host to the meanest biting flies I've ever encountered! These hornflies loved me and could only be deterred temporarily by frequent applications of a thick coat of Deep Woods Off or Cutters. Next time I'm in this area I'm going to wear lightweight pants instead of shorts.
|
Citadel Rock, made famous by the paintings of Karl Bodmer. |
After about 9 hours on the river, we pulled in to Judith Landing (a spot named for Julia Hancock, who as Mrs. William Clark is one of the main characters in our book). Jimmy, Don's partner at the Merc, was there with Bill's truck, and they hooked up the boat for our trek back over miles of gravel roads. It was interesting to see the ghostly remains of abandoned homesteads and an old one-room schoolhouse. We also saw an antelope and a fox! Smoke slowly moved into the area as we traveled and cast an eerie haze over the scene.
With all the dust, the sun was quick to wane. I was a little anxious by the time we got back to Virgelle, because we still had to drive back to Fort Benton, and I didn't want to be caught out on those gravel roads after dark! Fortunately, we made it off the gravel before sunset. We arrived at Fort Benton and the Grand Union Hotel (built 1882, restored 1999) about 8:30.
We had an interesting and fun dinner with Roni at the hotel's excellent restaurant. I had a delicious white fish and Mary had duck breast. This place has great desserts!
Toppled into bed, exhausted but deeply pleased. A great day seeing a world-class natural wonder that is still almost unknown and untouched.
Day 5: The Blackfoot Challenge
|
|
The day after our all-day excursion to the White Cliffs of the Missouri, we decided to take it easy and devote the day to leisurely travel and fellowship, rather than doing much sightseeing.
We sacked in, then poked down to the yummy breakfast buffet in the Grand Union dining room. We saw our traveling companion from yesterday, Roni, and waved her off on her further adventures. After breakfast, we had a look around the historic hotel and marveled at its beautiful restoration and the many historic photographs of past times in Fort Benton. The Grand Union was built during the height of the steamboat boom in Fort Benton and opened its door in 1883. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the same year that the railroad came to Montana and killed the steamboat forever. The hotel has had a checkered past since then -- and now, it appears, a happy ending.
We spent some time writing in our journals, and I tried to tend to my flaming hornfly bites (I stopped counting at 15). We finally got off from Fort Benton about 10:30, went back through Great Falls, and then headed west on Montana Highway 200. This route parallels the Blackfoot River and cuts through the heart of the territory once ruled by the tough and uncompromising Blackfoot Indians. For Lewis and Clark buffs, its significance is that it also parallels Meriwether Lewis's return journey through Montana in 1806.
Follow the link to a great Lewis and Clark driving brochure
It was fun to watch the landscape change from low, yellow, rolling, Charlie Russell hills into incredible timbered mountains! We climbed and climbed into the spectacular and beautiful heights with hardly another car or person in sight. It was hard not to imagine the Blackfoot still roaming this land and wish that somehow we all could have found a way to live together.
|
|
We stopped at the Continental Divide at Rogers Pass. This is one pass along the "Great Divide" which separates the waters that drain into the Pacific from those that drain into the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Haze and the smell of woodsmoke from nearby wildfires was obvious here and off and on for the rest of the day.
In the bustling small town of Lincoln, we stopped to poke around a big gift shop/trading post, then had a great BLT lunch at a pleasant place called Ponderose's.
The landscape changed again as we left Lincoln, into lumpy glacial mounds that Lewis called "The Prairie of the Knobs." At a dusty rest stop where we stopped to have some water, Mary saved me from a hideous spider that had dropped on my back from above and was heading for my neck. It might have been a hobo spider. Scream!
Shortly thereafter, we passed out of the knob country and climbed back into mountains and pine trees. We cruised into the busy university town of Missoula and easily found the Red Lion downtown. Our room turned out to be really spacious and nice. Rounded out the day a stroll through the interesting downtown area and dinner at a nice Mexican place called El Cazador. A thoroughly relaxing day. Lewis should have had it so good.
Day 7: Birthday Fun in Missoula
|
|
On Mary's 40th birthday we celebrated with all-day fun in Missoula!
When we traveled the Lewis & Clark trail in 2003, we used Missoula as a base camp when exploring Traveler's Rest, the Lolo Trail, and other places, but we never had any time to explore the town itself. Today we remedied that problem and found out a little about what makes Missoula one of the most progressive and creative cities in the West!
Our first stop was the Elk Country Visitor Center, which is run by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. This elegant facility resembles a giant Cabela's ad. Here, you can look at and play with fun and educational displays about elk behavior and habitat, and learn about what magnificent, tough, and confident animals they are. There is an amazing exhibit of trophy elk here. We enjoyed seeing how huge the elk are and hearing recordings of their "bugles."
In a way, I felt sad about the beautiful elk who are killed for trophies, but what have I ever done to save an elk? As we learned at the center, the elk population of North America plunged from multimillions in Lewis & Clark's day to just 90,000 at the turn of the 20th century. Because of vigilant conservation efforts spearheaded by hunters, the elk population has rebounded to about a million, and the animals are being reintroduced around the west and in Kentucky. It's just a fact that hunters are the ones who care about these animals enough to raise millions of dollars to buy habitat and fund research to bring this great American animal back from near-extinction.
We went back to the hotel and ditched the car, then walked downtown. It was smoky all day today due to severe forest fires, making the town smell like a big barbecue restaurant. First we went in the courthouse, which has a cool dome and is home to a beautifully done series of murals painted by western artist Edgar Paxson between 1912 and 1914. Two of the murals depict Lewis and Clark, and the others show other scenes of Montana pioneer life and history. This is a great stop for the Lewis & Clark buff!
We poked around downtown a while and found a great place to eat lunch called the Iron Horse Pub. This was an enjoyable hangout with good sandwiches and sweet potato french fries. Then we had a wonderful time exploring the downtown shops. The shopping possibilities here are almost overwhelming! We found a great used book store called The Bird's Nest where we each had some luck, and enjoyed poking through the shops looking at the art and jewelry and making a few purchases.
The pièce de résistance of the day was a visit to Caras Park and the beautiful, fun, and inspiring Missoula carousel! Adults as well as children are encouraged to ride the carousel in Missoula, and Mary and I each got a thrilling ride on a beautiful handcarved carousel horse to the music of the calliope. The University of Montana was even sponsoring free rides, I guess in honor of Mary's birthday. :)
In fact, Mary's birthday is really a big deal in Missoula, for it turned out that the city was also having a free concert in the park that evening. We stayed a while and listened to a local band, then walked across the Clark Fork river looking for a nice place to eat dinner. We found a great Italian place called Ciao Mambo, where we got yummy entrees and a dessert of "fried chocolate" -- pastry balls filled with melted chocolate and topped with whipped cream! Stupendous!
Strolled home along the river. The smoke was worse, and we found out that a huge fire had blown up northwest of town, threatening people's homes. We will be sure to be safe when heading out tomorrow.
This day was what vacations, birthdays, and sisters are all about.
Day 8: Travelers' Rest, Lolo Hot Springs, and Lewis & Clark Scenic Highway
|
|
On this day of our recent trip through Lewis & Clark country, we awoke to a Missoula socked in by smoke. When we were at the Safeway buying sandwiches and snacks for a big day of driving, we saw firefighters stocking up on groceries. God bless them.
We headed west for the town of Lolo, where our first stop of the day was Travelers' Rest. This ancient Indian campground, named by Meriwether Lewis, was used by travelers heading back and forth into the Bitterroots for millenia. Lewis and Clark stopped here on both their outbound and homeward-bound trips. It's easy to see why. The serene, wooded area is ideal for camping, with a lovely stream and lots of game nearby. We went on a nature walk through the site, where we saw turkeys and a black and yellow garter snake.
The rangers here are really nice and enthusiastic. We learned about how Travelers' Rest is one of the only places with physical evidence of the Corps of Discovery. Recent archaeology has turned up a button, a slug of Kentucky lead, and the location of the Corps latrine! The latrine's position was predicted through a study of the established practices of camp sanitation prescribed by army regulations in Lewis and Clark's day, and then confirmed through the presence of mercury in the pit. Rush's Thunderbolts, the mainstay of the Corps medicine kit, were laced with mercury -- the only reason they didn't kill you is that they went through you so fast!
We headed out into the smoke for our next stop, Lolo Hot Springs. We longed to swim here on our 2003 visit, and now we finally had our chance. Again, this site was known to the Indians and used for thousands of years as a recreational spot. Today, for a small fee you can soak where Lewis & Clark and the Indians played. A vintage pool receives very hot mineralized water from the springs streaming in over the rocks. It felt great! I could stay in only a fraction of Lewis's meticulously timed 19 1/2 minutes.
There is also a newer outdoor pool kept at a temperature of about 80 degrees. We had a very enjoyable swim here despite the smoke and a family of rowdy boys. I especially liked watching the adorable ground squirrels play all over the grounds. We finished up our visit with another soak in the hot pool. Interestingly, I noticed that my hornfly bites almost entirely ceased to itch after this experience.
After getting back into our duds, we visited the great gift shop (there is a hotel, RV park, and restaurant here too), and had our picnic. Then it was off on Highway 12, the Lewis & Clark Scenic Highway, which parallels the harrowing route through the mountains that Lewis and Clark endured during their 11-day ordeal in September 1805. This highway was constructed in the 1960s after the development of modern explosives and earth-moving equipment.
We entered the mountains at Lolo Pass. The road is beautiful, amazing, and very curvy. We climbed through mountain passes covered with cedars with a constant view of the Clearwater River shimmering over round stones. The smoke began to lift somewhat the further into Idaho we traveled.
The drive was tiring and we made a couple of interesting rest stops. I highly recommend a stop at the Lochsa Historical Ranger Station. This neat place shows how forest rangers lived and worked and fought fires from the 1920s to the 1960s. You can tour the ranger's house, tool shed, office, and other buildings. The hosts, a retired teacher and his wife, had actually started their married lives here! They had a very cute dog; along with a young buck deer on the road, this was about all the "wildlife" we saw on the drive.
We also stopped in the town of Kooskia, which has an Old West feel, and viewed a large Lewis and Clark mural. We finally got to our hotel, the Best Western in Orofino, about 6PM. I was ready to get off the road. The hotel is quite new and really nice; our room had a great view of the Clearwater River!
|
|
The fancy restaurant next door did not work out for supper for reasons too tedious to relate. We ended up getting a yummy meal at an unpretentious Chinese place across the street. Looks like it's going to be fun around here!
Day 9: Canoe Camp and Nez Perce Visitor Center
We awoke to a beautiful morning and a stupendous and smoke-free view from our room at the Best Western. We took advantage of waking up early to run do our laundry. Somehow there's something especially satisfying about this task when you're on vacation. Between that and the hearty breakfast buffet at the hotel, the day got off to a great start.
|
|
Lewis and Clark spent a lot of time in what is today Orofino. Their "canoe camp" turned out to be just a short drive from our hotel. Here Lewis and Clark recovered from their ordeal in the Bitterroots made the big dugouts that they would pilot from this spot all the way to the Pacific Ocean. We were astonished to learn that the canoes were over 50 feet long, made of giant ponderosa pines that the Nez Perce helped them find.
We took in the scene and the towering view of nearby Dworshak Dam. Too bad Lewis and Clark couldn't enjoy the river the way we did. They were terribly sick with diarrhea when they were here. I'm sure the Nez Perce weren't very impressed.
We headed off for our main event of the day, the Nez Perce Visitor Center at Spalding. As we drove west along the amazingly beautiful Clearwater River, we watched the landscape transform from timbered hills to yellow rolling hills patched with burned areas. This land has a rugged beauty of its own, and it's sad to think of how heavily populated it was by the Nez Perce and how sparsely inhabited today.
When we got to Spalding, we achieved a personal milestone in our Lewis and Clark travels, completing the "handshake" across the continent. We have now traveled the entire route of the Expedition from the White Cliffs of the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean!
We had a brief stop at the Nez Perce Visitor Center in 2005, and I was glad we came back. In the visitor center itself, you can see an excellent film about Nez Perce history (it dates back some 8000 years), the forces that tore them apart in the 19th century, and some about their lives today. My impression was that they're not very interested in wallowing in their "victim" status.
The adjacent small museum features amazing vintage photographs and exquisite regalia such as beautiful beaded dresses, shirts, bags, and other artifacts from the old days, many of them preserved by a descendant of the chief named "Lawyer."
The most interesting aspect to this place, though, is to take a walk through historic Spalding. This now-deserted site was once a thriving Nez Perce community, coming and going on the Clearwater for millenia. In 1836, missionary Henry Spalding made this his headquarters and began the process of Christianizing that pitting brother against brother in the tribe.
If you had come to Spalding one hundred years ago, you would have found steamboats plying the river, the railroad running through town, and a multi-racial community of people living in houses, cabins, and tipis. Today it stands as a time capsule of that brief era and a symbol of the still uncertain future of the impressive Nez Perce.
|
This general store served whites and Indians alike from the late 1880s until 1964. |
We wandered through the remaining buildings -- an old store and trading post, Spalding's Presbyterian church, the Indian agent's house, Spalding's house and mission site, and the old mission graveyard. It must have been devastating to the Nez Perce to lose control of this beautiful place and end up under the thumb of "whitey."
Finally we were chased away by crazed bees, leaving with much food for thought. And speaking of much food, we had a great lunch at M&M Pizza back in Orofino.
We took the rest of the day off to enjoy the nice pool and hot tub at the hotel. Supper was a giant Mexican feast at Fiesta en Jalisco. They feed you good in Orofino.
Day 10: Rafting on the Clearwater
|
|
One of the great things to do in Idaho is to go rafting on one of the many beautiful rivers in the state. For months, we eagerly anticipated our float trip on the Clearwater, which parallels Lewis and Clark's hellish journey through the Bitterroots.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning in August when we left Orofino and headed east on Highway 12 to Syringa and the River Dance Lodge for our river trip. It was fun to see people picking blueberries along the side of the road.
At the lodge, we met two guides, Leda and Andy, a young couple from Maine who worked for ROW, the river outfitting company who also operates the lodge. We found out that we were the only people signed up for the river trip today and would get a private tour with Leda! The neat custom-built rubber raft with oars and a comfortable padded bench seat would have been the envy of Lewis & Clark. They were forced to make an arduous journey overland for this part of the journey because the Clearwater was far too shallow for their canoes.
Andy drove us to the river about eight miles upstream from Syringa and we "put in" to the crystal-clear, rapidly flowing stream. The river bottom is shallow and strewn with smooth rocks and big boulders, and full of fish, especially steelhead trout darting upstream to spawn. Tiny bugs danced constantly on the surface along with more menacing black and white wasps. We saw a lot of birds, including soaring ospreys and hilarious merganser ducks that windmilled their way on top of the water.
It was fun to go over some small rapids, but most of the day was a gentle float with plenty of time just to look, talk, and understand better what river travel is like. Even with the specially designed raft, we sometimes got hung up on the rocks and Leda would have to wrestle us off. Getting to know this impressive young woman was one of the highlights of the trip. Despite being only 21 years old, she had already guided all sorts of outdoor adventures over a period of many years, and was planning to become a paramedic. She could definitely have joined the Corps of Discovery!
We stopped at a beach and had sandwiches and fresh veggies, sharing the space with a family and their obese basset hound. We mostly had the river to ourselves with the notable exception of a giant group of young men in tubes who somewhat improbably claimed to be a church group from Kamiah.
We got to see the river in several moods today, because in the afternoon a strong headwind kicked up, followed by very dark clouds and some moderate rain. We donned rainsuits and could only admire as our young guide powered the boat into the strong wind and current. Being a river guide is no easy job!
When we got back, we got delicious hot chocolate and treated ourselves to some huckleberry pie in the lodge. Great trip -- very well done!
|
Liz at the Heart of the Monster, birthplace of the Nez Perce people. Wish I had a warmer jacket. |
The change in the weather had brought much cooler temperatures and intermittent light rain. Nonetheless, we stopped on the way back to Orofino to view the Heart of the Monster, a giant clumplike rock. Here Coyote killed the monster and created all the native peoples of the region, including the Nez Perce. It was special to see such an important mythical site of the Nez Perce.
We got warm and dry back at the hotel. Bagged a satifying dinner of fish and chips, salad, and huge rolls for dinner at the Ponderosa Cafe, a local institution since 1857. Here's to a great day!
Day 11: From Orofino to Helena
Lewis and Clark's westward-bound journey took two years, while their return home took just six months. It's only natural that the "great journey west" gets most of the attention, but the return trip is just as important. After all, if they hadn't come back, we wouldn't still be talking about them 200 years later.
Our return journey for this trip began as we pulled out of Orofino in a light rain. Rain continued off and on for most of the day as we proceeded east on Highway 12 through the mountains that gave Lewis & Clark so much trouble. It wasn't too bad driving except when big logging trucks came barreling along at 70 miles per hour. I felt sorry for the bicyclists we saw laboring along in the rain. They must be suicidal to try this road.
We stopped again at the great rest area at the Lochsa Historical Ranger Station and visited with the hosts, Bob and Felicia Squires, and their sweet dog Buddy. Nice people, homemade treats, history, and clean restrooms. What more could anyone want? This is THE place to stop on Highway 12.
|
|
We made two interesting sightseeing stops this morning. First, we stopped to see the beautiful cedars and bubbling river at serene Devoto Grove. Bernard Devoto was a great western historian and Lewis & Clark scholar who did the fine abridgement of the Lewis & Clark journals that we like to use. His ashes are scattered here. Second came the Lolo Pass Visitor Center, situated near a Lewis & Clark campsite. This place seemed very new and included not only the historic site, but information, restrooms and an awesome gift shop.
|
|
By the time we stopped for burgers at Lolo Hot Springs, it was raining harder and getting progressively colder! We finally exited the mountains but had a long drive remaining, dragging through traffic-choked Missoula (there's no loop) and then heading east on I-90 towards Butte.
We turned off for Helena on what turned out to be an amazing drive. We climbed and climbed towards MacDonald Pass and the Continental Divide (over 6250 feet above sea level). As we did so, the rain ended and the sun emerged in a magnificent rainbow that stretched across the entire sky in the complete arc! As we made our ear-popping descent from the peak, we were treated to an incredible view of the valley and rolling hills for many miles. What a vista!
|
|
Finally hit Helena and found Jorgenson's, a nice older hotel near the city center. We ate supper in the adjacent restaurant. This place is a full-blown blast from the past, a trapped-in-amber dining experience circa 1970, complete with tall relish trays of julienned carrots and cold breadsticks and entrees that all came with a baked potato and string beans. Even the music was vintage. It was fun eating here.
As Lewis would say, "My fare is really sumptuous this evening; buffaloe's humps, tongues and marrowbones, fine trout parched meal pepper and salt, and a good appetite; the last is not considered the least of the luxuries."
Day 12: Helena
Helena, Montana, is a great small city and a really fun place to visit for Lewis & Clark buffs and history fans.
If you are a guest at Jorgenson's hotel, you can get a gargantuan lumberjack breakfast for only $1.99. After barely making a dent in our pancakes, we set off on a short and pleasant stroll from the hotel to the Montana Capitol Complex.
|
|
The Montana capitol building has a stately dome and a beautiful sandstone facade. Inside, we went on a self-guided tour and enjoyed the pretty deep reds and greens that set off the ornate stained-glass windows, frescoes of Montana scenes, and statues of famous Montanans. Lewis & Clark art includes several Edgar Paxson paintings, a large bronze relief in the Senate chamber, and in the House chamber, the famous Charlie Russell masterpiece, "Lewis & Clark Meeting the Flatheads in Ross's Hole." Next time, I might go on a guided tour in hopes of getting a closer look at this recently restored painting.
When we were done looking, we went across the street for the main event of the day, the Montana Historical Museum. We had a brief visit here in 2003 and barely had time to scratch the surface. We really made up for it on this visit! This museum is definitely worth a day of your vacation.
We looked at a neat exhibit of 1871 photographs of Yellowstone before plunging into the extensive permanent exhibition, "Lewis & Clark's Montana." This exhibit centers around an extensive collection of Indian artifacts. At times the interpretation made me tired -- Lewis & Clark were such clueless dumbasses, and the Indians were so wise -- but overall this exhibit is an amazing in-depth look at the historic encounter between Lewis & Clark and the Indians.
Next we viewed the museum's great collection of Charlie Russell paintings. I especially enjoyed the epic buffalo picture, "When the Land Belonged to God," and the exhibit of Russell's hilarious letters filled with charming sketches. The personality of this unique man remains delightful through the decades.
With a break for lunch in the little cafe in the capitol, we spent a couple of hours in the permanent exhibit on the history of Montana, which starts with the geography of the land and delves deeply in the 10,000 years of Indian habitation, showcasing artifacts, petroglyphs, weapons, and beadwork. The history of the white man was no less interesting, with excellent exhibits on fur-trapping, the gold rush, the rise of copper and the role of unions, the steamboat era, and the hard times of the Depression and World War II. This trip through Montana history left us filled with admiration and respect.
In the afternoon, we took a break from the museum to take a city tour on the Last Chance Tour Train. This motorized "choo-choo" takes you on a really extensive tour of historic Helena, including the Capitol complex, the governor's mansion, the amazing cathedral, and great Victorian mansions built by the early gold barons of Montana with mule deer lounging around in the yards. We saw the Masonic temple (where Meriwether Lewis's apron resides, still blood-stained from his final night at Grinder's Stand), the onion-shaped towers of the Civic Center, and the memorably-named Last Chance Gulch -- once the site of active gold claims, now a shopping and dinng area.
The modern-day street layout of Helena is still governed by the lot lines that ran through the original gold claims. One of the most amazing stretches of the tour was a drive past old mining cabins built along the bedrock of a hillside, still in use after all these years. Nothing goes to waste around here!
We finished up at the museum afterwards, taking in an exhibit of a man's lifelong effort to document train engines in photography, resulting in over 40,000 priceless images of a now-vanished technology and way of life; looking at the mounted remains of "Big Medicine," a prized white buffalo who lived to be 26 years of age; and taking a quick glance at an extensive collection of militaria. We were finally chased out of the gift shop as the museum closed at 5PM!
We loafed around the hotel for a while, then went to the Last Chance Gulch area for supper. We ate at a neat restaurant called The Windbag Saloon, which used to be the town's most celebrated bordello. We got yummy salads, coconut shrimp, and great chocolate cake. A great dinner and a great day! We heart Helena!
Day 13: Gates of the Mountains and Tower Rock
After another enormous breakfast at Jorgenson's, we packed up and prepared to say goodbye to Helena, the Queen City of Montana. Swung by a nice Safeway on the way out of town and picked up the fixings for a picnic lunch.
The main event of the day was a boat ride through the stupendous Gates of the Mountains. This is one of the most beautiful wild areas of the entire Lewis & Clark trail, and one of the most accessible too. For a nominal fee, you simply board a boat (our was called the Sacagawea II) at the public boat launch at Upper Holter Lake and set off for a couple of hours of fantastic scenery and interesting history.
|
|
Under sparkling skies of blue and big puffy clouds, we passed through the rugged channel of the Missouri beneath towering limestone cliffs. The boat pilot/tour guide pointed out how the folds in the cliffs were formed by the action of plate tectonics and explained how the river was forced through here by glacial forces rather than by erosion as one sees at the Grand Canyon.
|
|
Meriwether Lewis named this area, but he saw it in a very different light than we did. In his words of July 19, 1805:
this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. these clifts rise from the waters edge on either side perpendicularly to the hight of 1200 feet. every object here wears a dark and gloomy aspect. the tow[er]ing and projecting rocks in many places seem ready to tumble on us.
|
|
the river appears to have forced it's way through this immence body of solid rock for the distance of 5¾ miles and where it makes it's exit below has thrown on either side vast collumns of rocks mountains high. the river appears to have woarn a passage just the width of it's channel or 150 yds. it is deep from side to side nor is ther in the 1st 3 miles of this distance a spot except one of a few yards in extent on which a man could rest the soal of his foot. several fine springs burst out at the waters edge from the interstices of the rocks. it happens fortunately that altho' the current is strong it is not so much so but what it may be overcome with the oars for there is hear no possibility of using either the cord or Setting pole.
|
The "Crying Giant" at the Gates of the Mountains |
it was late in the evening before I entered this place and was obliged to continue my rout untill sometime after dark before I found a place sufficiently large to encamp my small party; at length such an one occurred on the lard. side where we found plenty of lightwood and pichpine.
|
"Elephant face" |
this rock is a black grannite below and appears to be of a much lighter colour above and from the fragments I take it to be flint of a yelloish brown and light creemcolourd yellow.— from the singular appeaerance of this place I called it the gates of the rocky mountains.
|
The "Gates of the Rocky Mountains" swinging open |
This is a wonderful trip for bird watchers! We saw many white pelicans, California gulls, ducks, great blue herons, kingfishers, ospreys (and their nests), and bald eagles. The sight of a bald eagle in flight through the canyon is unforgettable.
|
There are unusual plants here too, including a clumpy, moss-like plant that is an exceedingly rare breed of rose. |
|
These petroglyphs were old when Lewis passed this way. No one knows what they mean. |
|
The probable sight of Lewis's campsite, Field's Gulch, though another area, the Meriwether Campground (below), is also a candidate, and there are several others. It is also possible that the campsite may have been inundated when the river level rose after the building of Holter Dam in 1918. Clark never saw the Gates of the Mountains; he was out scouting for the Shoshones. |
|
|
Normally, you can get out and walk around at the Meriwether Campground and even stay behind for a hike or a picnic to get a later boat back. But the area had been recently threatened by wildfires (scorched earth and burned trees and underbrush were well in evidence), and Forest Service regulations prohibited a stop on the day of our visit.
|
Mann Gulch, a sobering reminder of the tragic incident in 1949 in which a dozen smokejumpers were killed. This was the subject of Norman MacLean's famous book, Young Men and Fire. Fortunately the fires were quiet on the day of our visit and the air was not noticably smoky. |
After returning to the marina we had a great picnic in a shaded pavilion next to the lake. It was great to sit by the water and reflect on all we'd seen. Great gift shop here!
Regrettably, it was now time to make our final return to Great Falls. I wish this trip could go on forever. On the way, we stopped at Tower Rock, a giant rock formation that Meriwether Lewis reported "climbing with some difficulty" for a panoramic view and the sight of immense herds of buffalo. It was an anxious time for Lewis and Clark when they camped here, as they were searching for the Shoshones and planning their course through the Bitterroots after having lost weeks of travel time at the Great Falls. We decided not to hike the trail because of the posted rattlesnake warnings. Right next to Tower Rock is a big refuse dump where we saw people bringing their bulk trash.
|
Mary at Tower Rock. |
Back in Great Falls, we stopped and looked at the great Bob Scriver statue of Lewis, Clark, York, and Seaman that overlooks the town. Then it was back to the La Quinta for a great swim and soak in the hot tub.
|
Bob Scriver's depiction of York, Seaman, and Lewis & Clark overlooks Great Falls. |
We had a farewell dinner for the trip at a lovely restaurant called Dante's, which is housed in an old restored ironworks with pressed tin ceilings. The food was great!
Day 14: Ulm Pishkun and Home
December 6, 2007: Ulm Pishkun and Home
The last day of our great Lewis & Clark vacation was crisp, and sunny. We took a nice walk along the beautiful Missouri next to the hotel and were thrilled to see some Canada geese, honking and flying in formation overhead!
Our last event of the trip was a visit to Ulm Pishkun State Park, home of an archaeological site that is possibly the largest buffalo jump in North America. (Shortly after our visit, the park changed its name to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park.)
The pishkun, or buffalo jump, is an imposing cliff rising over gently rolling hills in the yellow plain. At the visitor center, the park ranger gave us a brief orientation about how the Indians hunted here for hundreds of years. Archaeologists believe the site was in use as a buffalo jump from 900-1500 AD; they are unsure why it fell into disuse, though it apparently continued to be a gathering place. Until recent years, a huge number of bones and evidence of the hunt could be found at the base of the cliff. Unfortunately, they were gathered up and used for fertilizer and were mostly gone by the time of World War II. Some artifacts remain and a sampling from recent digs can be seen in the visitor center.
|
View from the top of the Ulm Pishkun. Aaaaaah! Splat! |
A small but very interesting set of displays explained the deep interdependence of the Indian and the buffalo. It could truly be said that it is impossible to say where one ended and the other began. Besides the many uses of the buffalo, we learned about the exploits of the buffalo runners, the use of cairns as both spiritual symbols and runway markers, and the great feasts and celebrations that took place after a successful buffalo run. Sadly, the story has to end with the quick demise of the buffalo culture and the near-extermination of the buffalo, a tale which never loses its power to shock no matter how many times you hear it. On a brighter note, we learned about the seven reservations in the area and the people's attempts to bring the buffalo back. They're trying hard to be themselves and make it as Indians in a white man's world.
Next we rattled up a steep gravel road up to the top of the pishkun itself. The cliff is about 300 feet high and steep, and commands a sweeping view of the prairie and Square Butte, often featured in the works of Charlie Russell. It's easy to visualize the courageous buffalo runners and the terror of the thundering herds as they plunged to oblivion.
|
Prairie dog. These little critters were first discovered for science by Lewis & Clark. |
The pishkun is also inhabited by one of the larger towns in Montana -- a prairie dog town, that is! Thousands and thousands of prairie dog holes stretch for a vast space, and the citizenry pops in and out of the holes constantly, standing up and "barking" in alarm if you try to approach them. It was adorable! It was fun to remember the time that Lewis and Clark spent hours trying to capture a prairie dog to send back to Mr. Jefferson.
Back down at the visitor center, we had a picnic, which was also attended by a jack rabbit and an aggressive hornet. It was then time to saddle up for the Great Falls Airport. Wah! Time to say goodbye to Lewis & Clark country for another visit. "But none complain, all go cheerfully on."
Lewis and Clark were delayed at the Great Falls, and we unexpectedly followed in their mockersons in this respect. We got back to Austin some 20 hours past our originally scheduled arrival due to a series of events too tedious to relate, except for this: we ended up spending the night in Helena again, this time at the Barrister, a great bed and breakfast! What a lovely place with great hospitality. The owner, Nick, even came and got us at the airport at 12:30 at night, which makes him a prince in my book. The next time we're in Helena, we will definitely be staying at the Barrister again!