Stan
Well-known member
Our trace of the Lewis & Clark Trail began appropriately at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, where we arrived in time to ride to the top of the Arch and witness a brilliant and beckoning sunset. Our intent was to follow the trail in pursuit of history, scenery, and paddling and hiking opportunities which fed the senses a taste of the Expedition that “had crossed mountains that had no highways, floated rivers that had no dams, seen buffalo that had no limit, talked with Indians that had no masters.” We went as far as Montana where we headed south through several national parks and eventually a karate training and competition event which my son and his fianceé participated in Las Vegas. Our return route took us through a much anticipated Idaho and the remainder of the trail east. We’ll follow the trail from the Bitterroot Mountains to the Pacific another time.
Throughout our trip the Missouri River was extraordinarily high and swift due to a very wet spring and higher than normal snowmelt. This ruled out any paddling adventures, even “harbor cruises” and riverboat casinos were closed. The same conditions, however, resulted in spectacular displays of wildflowers on our hikes.
It was said that the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers separated the men from the boys … the boys went up the Mississippi and the men went up the Missouri. It was a dangerous River with constantly shifting channels, sandbars and submerged snags that were the destruction of many riverboats and pilots’ careers.
From St. Louis up to Sioux City the river has been tamed. Aside from occasional cities and villages, there is still mostly undeveloped land, farms and hills, but the river is controlled with reinforced banks and dikes to a fairly constant 650 ft. width. This, combined with dams and controlled releases upstream, very effectively provides navigation safety, flood control, irrigation and energy generation. The lakes behind the dams serve a variety of recreational uses. A big loss in this was the habitat created by seasonal floods and backwaters. These are now being restored.
One thing doesn’t seem to have changed along the route, “troublesome mosquetoes”! The two areas where relatively undeveloped and primitive conditions now exist are 1) long stretches below the dam and above the lake formed by said dam near Yankton, SD, and 2) Missouri Breaks National Monument and Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in Montana.
Staging for the latter is near Fort Benton, MT and river camping trips of two nights to over a week are possible in this wild and remote area. Only a few gravel roads approach the river for long distances and these are often barely usable. Thus, we have started plans for this paddling trip next summer where we hope to also hike the Cow Hills, L&C first view of the Rockies. http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/lewistown_field_office/umrbnm.html
Our trip eventually took us only as far as the Bitterroot Mountains where we rejoined the L&C Trail after our diversion south. Here Lewis & Clark found the headwaters and streams unsuitable for navigation. Such rivers as the aptly named River of No Return and the Salmon River are today noted for white water activities.
The Expedition obtained horses from the Shoshone, as well as a guide, thanks to Sacagewea who had been kidnapped from her people by another tribe and was later taken as one of several wives (perhaps the result of a poker game) by a French trapper, Charboneau, who helped serve as a guide and interpreter for L&C, and who was instrumental in a complex method of translation from English to French and to Native American, usually with a couple tribal languages in between. Sacagewea’s brother was, fortuitously, now the chief of the Shoshone. Even then, serious bartering was part of the price for the horses. More on the route through the Bitterroots later.
Along the Lewis & Clark Trail there are over a dozen interpretive and visitor centers, many with short hikes and nature walks nearby. Our favorite was in Great Falls, MT overlooking the river and what remains of the falls (a couple power dams have covered several of the falls) and nearby remnants of the 18 mile portage around these falls. This center has a thorough display of the Expedition with a narrative of the journey on one side and the parallel natural and Native American history on the other side of a spiraling aisle. In addition, Great Falls has an interesting history in the heart of the old West, a nearby “buffalo jump” with trails to the top of the cliffs, and the Charles M. Russell Museum.
Our favorite hikes included Niobrara State Park in Nebraska, near Yankton, SD. As this point in the L&C Trail the geography is tall grass prairie and a network of trails above the river bluffs, combined with a rail trail along the river, makes for an interesting loop … but for those who’ve hiked rail trails, scenery notwithstanding, you’ll appreciate that Erik and I had to entertain ourselves … Lewis & Clark got along great as co-leaders but, in our imagined conversations, things weren’t so polite.
In Pierre, SD we hiked on several miles of a network of trails on Laframboise Island, a campsite of the Expedition, after which we attended a nearby rodeo. From here north we took back roads through reservations and the Native American Scenic Byway to Fort Lincoln State Park where On-a-Slant Indian Village reconstruction sits at the base of a rocky bluff with vistas up, down and across the Missouri. A short distance upstream we enjoyed a 4th of July concert and fireworks at the state capitol in Bismarck, ND.
Our next notable hike was to Sperati Point in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we camped on the Little Missouri River. This river, too, was running high but we learned at the disappointing Roosevelt Elkhorn Ranch (nothing to see but new fences) that, even at normal summer levels, fording the river by vehicle is no longer permissible or accessible. Near Roosevelt NP and adjacent grasslands is the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers where Lewis and Clark reunited after taking different routes on the return trip; this is now known as Fort Union and a large trading post was built here 22 years after the Expedition.
Along the Yellowstone River (Clark’s route on the return) we visited Pompey’s Pillar about 30 miles from Billings, MT. The Pillar is only a short distance from the visitor center but it is a prominent feature standing above the plain and river and visible for many miles around. It is the only actual physical evidence of the Expedition with Clark’s signature and date now enshrined on the rock. It is named after the boy born to Sacagewea during the trip. Pompey was adored by the men, especially the leaders, and his presence was a gesture of peace to the native tribes for no war party ever traveled with a woman, let alone a baby.
Our return to the Bitterroots took us through Salmon, ID, location of one of a handful of Sacagewea Interpretive Centers, along US-93, where there are some notable day hikes available which approximate the difficult route the Expedition took through this area, to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, a “truck stop” for migrating waterfowl along the Bitterroot River, and to scenic US-12 through the mountains along the Lochsa River which was our base camp for a few days.
Our most memorable hiking and traveling in this area, an area where we plan to resume the Trail next time, is the Lolo Motorway through Clearwater National Forest. No, not part of the NASCAR circuit, this is one of the names of a trail that originated thousands of years ago as a herd “path” of buffalo migrating through the Bitterroots. The Nez Perce eventually followed this trail as it became their own for tracking the bison and later as a trade route for a number of tribes. In the ‘30s the CCCs built a one lane gravel road paralleling and crossing this trail. Today it is a very rough and sometimes dangerous road of over 100 miles (a 25 mile stretch took us 5 hours), but it provides access to some of the very ground on which the primitive peoples and the Expedition tread as well as one possible route to some of the most remote and undeveloped land in the lower 48. There are believed to be peaks on which no man has yet set foot upon … the base of which can be 40 miles of bushwhack from the nearest forest road … through grizzly country.
Our hikes were not quite so exciting or ambitious, staying on trails linked to the Motorway. Accessible via the motorway are old fire towers which can be rented for nominal fees on a nightly basis … though I rue the thought of a mid night trip down to the privy! Here are a few links to Clearwater NF, the Motorway and reservations to federal campgrounds, cabins etc.:http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lewisclark/lcic/grasslands/lolo_motorway.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/clearwater/LewisClark/Assets/driving_lolom.pdf
http://www.recreation.gov/
Our prime resource for planning the L&C Trail was National Geographic’s Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is well covered in National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated Map 259 of the same name. The US Forest Service map of Clearwater National Forest covers a larger area than needed but it is the best single source of information and perspective. We also found maps and information at visitor centers and ranger stations that are not readily found or available on websites or bookstores.
Throughout our trip the Missouri River was extraordinarily high and swift due to a very wet spring and higher than normal snowmelt. This ruled out any paddling adventures, even “harbor cruises” and riverboat casinos were closed. The same conditions, however, resulted in spectacular displays of wildflowers on our hikes.
It was said that the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers separated the men from the boys … the boys went up the Mississippi and the men went up the Missouri. It was a dangerous River with constantly shifting channels, sandbars and submerged snags that were the destruction of many riverboats and pilots’ careers.
From St. Louis up to Sioux City the river has been tamed. Aside from occasional cities and villages, there is still mostly undeveloped land, farms and hills, but the river is controlled with reinforced banks and dikes to a fairly constant 650 ft. width. This, combined with dams and controlled releases upstream, very effectively provides navigation safety, flood control, irrigation and energy generation. The lakes behind the dams serve a variety of recreational uses. A big loss in this was the habitat created by seasonal floods and backwaters. These are now being restored.
One thing doesn’t seem to have changed along the route, “troublesome mosquetoes”! The two areas where relatively undeveloped and primitive conditions now exist are 1) long stretches below the dam and above the lake formed by said dam near Yankton, SD, and 2) Missouri Breaks National Monument and Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in Montana.
Staging for the latter is near Fort Benton, MT and river camping trips of two nights to over a week are possible in this wild and remote area. Only a few gravel roads approach the river for long distances and these are often barely usable. Thus, we have started plans for this paddling trip next summer where we hope to also hike the Cow Hills, L&C first view of the Rockies. http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/lewistown_field_office/umrbnm.html
Our trip eventually took us only as far as the Bitterroot Mountains where we rejoined the L&C Trail after our diversion south. Here Lewis & Clark found the headwaters and streams unsuitable for navigation. Such rivers as the aptly named River of No Return and the Salmon River are today noted for white water activities.
The Expedition obtained horses from the Shoshone, as well as a guide, thanks to Sacagewea who had been kidnapped from her people by another tribe and was later taken as one of several wives (perhaps the result of a poker game) by a French trapper, Charboneau, who helped serve as a guide and interpreter for L&C, and who was instrumental in a complex method of translation from English to French and to Native American, usually with a couple tribal languages in between. Sacagewea’s brother was, fortuitously, now the chief of the Shoshone. Even then, serious bartering was part of the price for the horses. More on the route through the Bitterroots later.
Along the Lewis & Clark Trail there are over a dozen interpretive and visitor centers, many with short hikes and nature walks nearby. Our favorite was in Great Falls, MT overlooking the river and what remains of the falls (a couple power dams have covered several of the falls) and nearby remnants of the 18 mile portage around these falls. This center has a thorough display of the Expedition with a narrative of the journey on one side and the parallel natural and Native American history on the other side of a spiraling aisle. In addition, Great Falls has an interesting history in the heart of the old West, a nearby “buffalo jump” with trails to the top of the cliffs, and the Charles M. Russell Museum.
Our favorite hikes included Niobrara State Park in Nebraska, near Yankton, SD. As this point in the L&C Trail the geography is tall grass prairie and a network of trails above the river bluffs, combined with a rail trail along the river, makes for an interesting loop … but for those who’ve hiked rail trails, scenery notwithstanding, you’ll appreciate that Erik and I had to entertain ourselves … Lewis & Clark got along great as co-leaders but, in our imagined conversations, things weren’t so polite.
In Pierre, SD we hiked on several miles of a network of trails on Laframboise Island, a campsite of the Expedition, after which we attended a nearby rodeo. From here north we took back roads through reservations and the Native American Scenic Byway to Fort Lincoln State Park where On-a-Slant Indian Village reconstruction sits at the base of a rocky bluff with vistas up, down and across the Missouri. A short distance upstream we enjoyed a 4th of July concert and fireworks at the state capitol in Bismarck, ND.
Our next notable hike was to Sperati Point in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park where we camped on the Little Missouri River. This river, too, was running high but we learned at the disappointing Roosevelt Elkhorn Ranch (nothing to see but new fences) that, even at normal summer levels, fording the river by vehicle is no longer permissible or accessible. Near Roosevelt NP and adjacent grasslands is the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers where Lewis and Clark reunited after taking different routes on the return trip; this is now known as Fort Union and a large trading post was built here 22 years after the Expedition.
Along the Yellowstone River (Clark’s route on the return) we visited Pompey’s Pillar about 30 miles from Billings, MT. The Pillar is only a short distance from the visitor center but it is a prominent feature standing above the plain and river and visible for many miles around. It is the only actual physical evidence of the Expedition with Clark’s signature and date now enshrined on the rock. It is named after the boy born to Sacagewea during the trip. Pompey was adored by the men, especially the leaders, and his presence was a gesture of peace to the native tribes for no war party ever traveled with a woman, let alone a baby.
Our return to the Bitterroots took us through Salmon, ID, location of one of a handful of Sacagewea Interpretive Centers, along US-93, where there are some notable day hikes available which approximate the difficult route the Expedition took through this area, to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, a “truck stop” for migrating waterfowl along the Bitterroot River, and to scenic US-12 through the mountains along the Lochsa River which was our base camp for a few days.
Our most memorable hiking and traveling in this area, an area where we plan to resume the Trail next time, is the Lolo Motorway through Clearwater National Forest. No, not part of the NASCAR circuit, this is one of the names of a trail that originated thousands of years ago as a herd “path” of buffalo migrating through the Bitterroots. The Nez Perce eventually followed this trail as it became their own for tracking the bison and later as a trade route for a number of tribes. In the ‘30s the CCCs built a one lane gravel road paralleling and crossing this trail. Today it is a very rough and sometimes dangerous road of over 100 miles (a 25 mile stretch took us 5 hours), but it provides access to some of the very ground on which the primitive peoples and the Expedition tread as well as one possible route to some of the most remote and undeveloped land in the lower 48. There are believed to be peaks on which no man has yet set foot upon … the base of which can be 40 miles of bushwhack from the nearest forest road … through grizzly country.
Our hikes were not quite so exciting or ambitious, staying on trails linked to the Motorway. Accessible via the motorway are old fire towers which can be rented for nominal fees on a nightly basis … though I rue the thought of a mid night trip down to the privy! Here are a few links to Clearwater NF, the Motorway and reservations to federal campgrounds, cabins etc.:http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lewisclark/lcic/grasslands/lolo_motorway.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/clearwater/LewisClark/Assets/driving_lolom.pdf
http://www.recreation.gov/
Our prime resource for planning the L&C Trail was National Geographic’s Guide to the Lewis & Clark Trail. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is well covered in National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated Map 259 of the same name. The US Forest Service map of Clearwater National Forest covers a larger area than needed but it is the best single source of information and perspective. We also found maps and information at visitor centers and ranger stations that are not readily found or available on websites or bookstores.
