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.