P.S. (Pris Snippets)

We’ve seen a variety of terrains in our travels. In northern Montana we saw miles and miles of flat agricultural fields (presumably wheat). As we headed south in Montana we began to see rolling hills with cows and horses and not as much agriculture.
We stayed in a private RV Park just on the outskirts of Great Falls, Montana and used that as our base to see the Lewis and Clark sites. ( Of course, it didn’t hurt to have wonderful restaurants and shopping near by.)
The owners of the RV Park served breakfast in the morning that included wheat pancakes from the local fields with chockberry syrup. The chockberries were also picked locally. We saw lots of Canadians camping since we were not far from the Canadian border.
The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls was top rate. The displays were very well done and the facility was exceptional. There was even a walking trail with plants that were described in the Lewis and Clark journal. There was a word of caution on walking the trail to watch out for rattlesnakes. We were also warned about the rattlesnakes when we visited the First Peoples Buffalo Jump south of Great Falls at Ulm. I understand that there are lots of prairie dogs and they are not allowed to shoot them, hence the rattlesnakes.
The buffalo jump museum at Ulm was another interesting museum with enthusiastic, well informed young guides. The buffalo jump (high cliff) where the Indians tricked the buffalo to stampede off the cliff is visible from the visitor’s center.
We drove out of town to see one of the five “great falls” and saw large flocks of white pelicans. It seems strange to see pelicans away from the ocean.
We are also seeing large number of prairie dogs. Unfortunately they dart across the road and we are seeing lots of road kill.
Then it was on to Butte, Montana and then Missoula. Most of this time we had off and on rain showers.
We particularly enjoyed Missoula, home of the University of Montana. There is something about the atmosphere of a college town. It’s a very “green” city with lots of parks, bike paths, and a wonderful Saturday morning farmers market. It seemed as if the whole town turned out for the market. We loaded up on baked goods and fresh vegetables.
We had some time to kill, and we’ve wanted to explore the panhandle of Idaho, so we’ve taken a side trip from the L and C trail.
Then it was north to Flathead Lake and Kalispell, Montana (only 60 miles from the Canadian border). The CG was right on the lake and we enjoyed beautiful sunsets (when there weren’t showers).
We mainly took back roads and drove through heavily forested areas. It’s sad to see large areas of the forest that have died because of the bark beetle.
We camped at a Corp of Engineers RV camp on Lake Pend Oreille just outside of Sandpoint, Idaho. Sandpoint was an upscale tourist area with fine shopping and restaurants located right off the lake.
We again had a camping spot with a view of the lake. I particularly enjoyed watching the osprey and bald eagles dive for fish in the lake. There are also lots of large blue herons in this area.
The next stop was Heyburn State Park at the southern end of Loeur d’ Alene Lake. Most of the sites had been reserved but one CG on the lake was first come first served. We got a beautiful site overlooking the lake. We have been wondering the entire trip where are the mosquitoes. Well we found them, but luckily the wind comes up in the afternoon and they aren’t as bad. The weather is mainly high in the 70s but most people have fires to keep the mosquitoes down.

Over the Lolo Trail (CoD Sept 11-22, 1805)

The CoD now had the horses to proceed overland to the headwaters of the Columbia. But it was to prove the most trying of times for the expedition. It was late in the season and snow was already on the Bitterroots, over which the Lolo trail passed. The Shoshone said that it was too late in the year to attempt to cross but the Captains knew that to wait for the next spring would add another year to their trip. So they proceeded. They crossed the Lolo pass with little trouble but then ran into snow. That coupled with a thick forest of downed trees made traveling difficult. They ran out of food and were eating their candles!
The CoD finally stumbled out of the mountains onto what is now known as Weippi Prairie and were assisted by the Nez Perce Indians.
The first photo shows John at the Lolo pass. The second photo shows Pris next to one of the streams west of Lolo pass, running through the thick, jumbled forests. The photos were just taken in early summer, not the fall weather that the CoD had to endure.
We always build some time slack into our travels, to exploit areas we want to visit. When we arrived at Missoula Montana, we had about 10 days of extra time in our exploration. Instead of driving from Missoula to Lewiston, Id via US 12, which is a half days drive, we instead detoured to the north. We have never been to northwestern Montana and northern Idaho. So we took a week going to Flathead Lake in Montana and Lakes Pend Oreille and Coeur D’Alene in Idaho. After a week of laid back camping, we arrived in Lewiston.

Crossing the Continental Divide, Montana/Idaho (CoD Late August, 1805)

Lewis and 3 other men left the main party and started toward the mountains on foot in search of the Shoshone and horses. They saw one Indian on the east side of the divide but could not speak with him, since he rode away fast. Lewis ascended what is now known as Lemhi pass and passed down into present Idaho. He did meet the Shoshone in a few days and convinced the main chief Cameahwait to come back over the pass with their horses, to help the CoD get their provisions and transport them west of the divide. Lewis and the Shoshone arrived a day ahead of Clark and the rest of the CoD at what now is called Camp Fortunate.
Sacagawea was called to translate for Lewis, Clark, Cameahwait and the lesser Shoshone chiefs. During the council she realized that Cameahwait was her brother and she broke down crying and embraced him. This really broke the ice and the CoD got most of the horses they wanted.
The Shoshone helped the CoD transport their provisions to the west side of the divide and the CoD made ready to start overland to the Columbia.
Camp Fortunate is now under the water of Clark Canyon Reservoir, due to a dam. The first photo shows Pris overlooking the reservoir, just about where Camp Fortunate was. Lewis mentioned the lone large hill seen to the right of Pris. The second photo shows John with the Continental Divide behind. The Lemhi pass is just to the right of John’s head.

Headwaters of the Missouri, Montana (CoD July 27-30, 1805)

The headwaters of the Missouri River are considered to be the confluence of 3 similar rivers, the Jefferson coming from the southwest, the Madison coming from the south and the Gallatin coming from the southeast. They are roughly the same size and flow, and drain a large valley to the south. Where they come together, the Missouri tumbles into more mountainous terrain. Lewis came upon the confluence early on the morning of July 27 and immediately recognized what Sacagawea had described. He ascended what is now known as Lewis Rock and mapped the area. Coming upriver, the first river to branch is the Gallatin. The first photo shows Pris with the Gallatin flowing right to left, behind her. The high point to her left is Lewis Rock. The Gallatin meets the Missouri about ¼ mile downstream from here, just in front of the cliff visible in the lower left of the photo. The second photo shows Pris at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison, about ¼ mile above where the Gallatin comes in. The Madison is flowing in from the left, the Jefferson from behind her and the flow is going to the right.
The captains correctly selected the Jefferson River to follow into the moutains.

Great Falls, Montana (CoD June 13-July 13, 1805)

The Mandan’s told the Captains of the great falls of the Missouri, that it would be about ½ day portage around them. Lewis was amazed when he first gazed at the great falls, which turned out to be the first of five! The ½ day portage turned out to take about 3 weeks. All the boats and gear were hauled up a ravine on the south side of the river and up onto the plains, about 1000 feet above. The portage was about 18 miles in length to get above the last falls. It took four trips to get all there stuff to the upper portage camp.
It was on July 4th that the CoD finished the last of there hard spirits. There were no more happy hours until they got back to St Louis 14 months later. Captain Lewis was also attacked by a grizzly bear at the upper portage camp. The bear chased him into the river but then left him alone.
The river now sports dams ahead of the major falls, to generate power. There are lookouts from the bluffs to see most of the falls/dams. They are still impressive today, no wonder Lewis was overcome when he first heard the roar of the great falls. The first photo shows Pris in front of the Great Falls, with the dam behind. If you look carefully, you can see a half dozen bikers on top of the ridge at the left side of the dam.
On the south shore of the river is the national forest Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. It is right on the bluff about 800 feet above the water. It is the most comprehensive and impressive L&C center we have encountered so far. While it concentrates on the falls portage, it covers the entire trip from both the CoD and Indian perspectives.
We also visited the First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park, about 15 miles south of Great Falls. For about 1000 years prior to the acquisition of horses, Indians would lure buffalo up to and over the cliffs. This would be done by the swiftest runner wearing a buffalo calf’s skin to lure the lead cow of the herd and for other runners wearing wolf’s skins to harass the rest of the herd from behind. When all worked well, the herd got on top of the mesa and was stampeded over the cliff with the front runner managing to avoid the falling buffalo by diving into a crack. These guys deserved the best steaks from the buffalo feast! The second photo shows Pris in a tee pee with the “killing cliff” of the mesa behind her. The third photo shows Pris with a new found friend at the visitor center.
Great Falls is also home to Malmstrom Air Force base. Our good friends Ken and Barb A. used to live here as Ken was a pilot in the AF. He flew KC 135 tankers up over the artic to be ready to refuel B 52s, if there was ever a hot war with the Soviets. Thankfully that never materialized. After Ken finished his AF career, he went to JPL where John and Ken both worked in the same group in 1970. Ken finally retired from JPL in the mid 2000s; no one is quite sure when since he “oozed out” one day at a time. Ken’s latest career is as grammarian of the blog, which John is so thankful for.

P. S. (Pris Snippets)

We have spent equal amounts of time driving on country back roads and on the interstate in order to stay close to the muddy Mo (Missouri River). What a feat that the CoD had in order to pull the keelboat up the Mo against the current, the shifting sand bars, and the snags. The Missouri is about a couple hundred yards wide in most places but wider where it has been dammed. We do see people fishing (although not that many) and the fish of choice is the walleye.
Driving the lower Missouri, the countryside was mainly rolling hills with cottonwoods, maples, and oaks. It looked as if it were snowing because the cottonwoods were releasing their “cotton”. If you visit this part of the country at this time of year, bring your allergy pills. Although, we understand that it’s the grass pollen that is so bad.
Driving north into South Dakota, the terrain changed to flat or rolling plains with very few trees. The movie “Dancing with Wolves” was filmed outside Pierre, SD and the scenery in that movie accurately depicts the terrain.
We’re finding the state CGs are mainly empty during the week but can be full on the weekend. We pulled into Fort Abraham Lincoln State CG outside Bismarck, ND during the week and we were one of only a few rigs. Then on the weekend every site was full because of “Halloween in June”. It was a kick. There was a costume parade, a haunted forest trail, movies, decorated rigs and trick or treating. We had to make a fast run to the store to buy candy.
We’ve enjoyed taking the tours of the museums, forts, etc. The tour guides are young people who usually dress in period costumes and conduct the tours as if they are in the late 1800s. They are very knowledgeable.
We’ve seen lots of wildlife: turkeys wandering through the CG, hawks, smaller song birds, beautiful pheasants, geese, deer, etc. John went for a walk near our CG outside Williston, ND and literally ran into an elk on the path. I don’t know who was more frightened, John or the elk.
It has been sad to see so many dead pheasants on the side of the road. We saw some every few miles. They eat the gravel (for their gizzards) on the side of the road and then become road kill.
We have had a variety of weather. It was fairly warm and sunny when we started but the last week we have had cloudy, cool and some drizzly weather. We even had snow flurries and temperatures in the low 30s. We’re still keeping an eye on the sky and listening to NOAA. The clouds are big and black and ominous looking but NOAA assures us that there are no tornado warnings. Our new favorite TV station is the weather channel. We have been covering the same area that their Vortex 2 team (tornado chasers) have been covering.
Our favorite CG so far as been the beautiful Lewis and Clark SG outside Williston, ND. It had green grassy sites under the trees with a view of Lake Sakakawea (Sacagawea) and many hiking trails. We mainly had the CG to ourselves.

Up the River to Lewis & Clark State Park, North Dakota (CoD April 17, 1805)

The CoD broke winter camp on April 8, 1805 and headed up the Missouri with 3 new participants, Toussaint Charbonneau, his Shoshone wife Sacagawea and their new born son Jean Baptiste. The captains thought that Sacagawea would prove valuable when they got to the mountains where they expected to encounter the Shoshone. They needed horses to cross the mountains and thought the Shoshone could be the source. As it turned out, they called it correctly, but I get ahead of myself.
They also filled the keelboat full of their records and samples of animals and plants, to be sent back to President Jefferson. It left shortly before them and headed back to St. Louis. The CoD constructed a few new large canoes from very large cottonwood trees, using the methods taught to them by the Mandan’s. The new canoes proved faster than the keelboat so the CoD made much better time, averaging about 20 miles a day.
This portion of the river is now Lake Sacagawea, formed by the Garrison Dam. It is huge, stretching almost 200 miles in length. Lewis & Clark SP is located on the north shore of the lake, about 60 miles south of the Canadian border. The lake is about 5 miles wide here at the SP.
The park is beautiful, with rolling grass covered hills and great vistas of the lake. Once again, we have it almost to ourselves. The first photo shows the “crowds” around the RV. The second photo is taken from one of our hikes around the campground.
About 30 miles west of the SP, the Yellowstone River enters the Missouri. The CoD first saw the Yellowstone on April 25. The third photo shows the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri. The Missouri is flowing from right to left in the photo, with the Yellowstone entering from the top, behind John.

Fort Mandan, North Dakota (CoD Winter, 1804)

The CoD wintered with the Mandan’s and built Fort Mandan, about 40 miles north of present day Bismarck. The first two photos show Pris and the fort. The weather was more extreme than the Americans had encountered before, going down to -45 Degrees F. They traded blacksmithed products (axes, repairing guns etc) for produce grown by the Mandan’s.
We stayed at Fort Lincoln State Park, just outside of Bismarck. It was the home of the 7th Calvary prior to their campaign to the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876. The 3rd photo shows private Jon Hamlin just before our tour of the rebuilt Custer House.
The weather has gotten cold here. Night time temperatures have been into the high 30s and we had sleet yesterday. It rains off and on, with high temperatures in the mid 40s! And to think the last time we were in North Dakota it was 96!

Fort Pierre, South Dakota (CoD September 24-28, 1804)

It was here where the Bad River empties into the Missouri, that the CoD almost met its demise. The photo shows me with the two rivers behind, the Bad to the left and Missouri on the right. The meanest dudes on the great planes, the Teton Sioux, met with the CoD in council, just about where I was standing, and tried to push them around. The situation was exacerbated by two Teton chiefs vying for power and Lewis insisting on talking with just one chief.
It came down to Clark drawing his sword, the men on the keelboat loading all guns and the Sioux drawing bow and arrows. The delicate standoff was defused by one chief, Black Buffalo, who waved off his warriors. With the number of warriors and their weapons, it would have been a very one sided fight and we probably would never have heard of the CoD again. Fortunately that outcome was avoided and the CoD was able to continue their up river journey.
We camped in the Oahe Downstream Recreational Area, a few miles north of Fort Pierre. It is a large park just downstream from the massive Oahe Dam, the 14th largest dam of its type in the world. Once again the park was less than 10% full. Across the Missouri is the town of Pierre, the capital of South Dakota. Pierre has a large population of 14,000.

Northern Iowa & Nebraska (CoD Mid August-Mid September, 1804)

The last State Park we visited in Iowa was Lewis & Clark (what else?). It’s on a lovely oxbow lake, with the campground in a grove of cottonwood trees. Oxbow refers to a meandering river, where the river actually cuts off a U shaped bow of the river, crossing the head of the U. By crossing the U, or filling it in, the Oxbow shaped lake is created next to the river itself.
As can be seen from the first photo, there is a working replica of the L & C keelboat on this lake. They actually let you climb around on this boat, which you can see.
At Sioux City Iowa, the Missouri turns west and starts cutting through the great Planes. Here the river forms the boundary between Nebraska and South Dakota. L&C were surprised and pleased by the great planes, with their miles and miles of waving grass prairies. The native grasses are 3 to 4 feet high and look like a sea when the wind blows. Of course this is where they also found the vast Bison herds.
We stayed at Niobrara State Park on the Nebraska side of the river, about 100 miles west of Sioux City. It is at the confluence of the Niobrara River with the Missouri. The second photo is shot behind our campsite, showing the grass mentioned above. The third photo shows the front of the RV. Once again we have this place almost to ourselves.
We were surprised last night when large wild turkeys came through our campsite. There are quite a few here.
We were expecting some severe weather last night, but fortunately it never materialized
The Missouri has a number of dams in this area of the river. These were built in the 50s and 60s to tame the wild floods that used to occur. The “lakes” that result are very large and there are many recreational areas here. One of our guidebooks estimates over 1000 campsites.