The Trail That Made AMERICA: Lewis and Clark

Waking up on the ridge of Saddle Mountain, looking south to the Pioneer Mountains in Montana and north to the Bitterroot Range in Idaho, made me remember how much I love living here. This part of the country, while it was a daunting challenge to Lewis and Clark, is full of stunning, rugged beauty, much of it untouched by roads or humans. At camp, the families were slowly waking up with the sun and preparing for the day ahead. Well, it's been a great morning at camp. We're getting ready to head down the mountain and hit pavement. Now, pavement, this pavement actually follows the Lewis and Clark Trail very, very closely. I did a lot of research on it and the highway down there, which is called the Lewis and Clark Highway, actually follows their path very closely. And as we approach Lolo, there's a bunch of historic stuff because that's kind of where they grouped up, got supplies, and then hit the Bitterroot Mountains. And so, we'll see some sights along the way, but mostly we're headed to Lolo. On the way down to paved roads, my son asked me what the big deal was because from his perspective, this was just one of a thousand mountain dirt roads he's been on in his lifetime. So, I did my best to give him perspective. Like Lewis and Clark, looking at those mountains and being like, we have to cross those. And all they had were horses and maybe a mule or two. They were mostly on foot. Can you imagine? Like, oh my God, what are we going to do? How are we going to get over those? It seems almost impossible. Dang, we might be cooked. Yeah, exactly. They're like, that's exactly what they thought. They're like, uh, we might be cooked right now. No, I'm talking about us. Yeah, well, we might be cooked too, but at least we have like big cars. At least it's not as bad as that road. Yeah, exactly. You can make way more pace than they can. Yeah. Well, and there's roads now. There were no roads back then either. Like no roads. They had to just like figure it out and ask for guides and ask for help. And you know, there was this one little path that the Nez Perce or Nimiipuu Indians, there was this one little path that went across and they had to find somebody that knew about it and then a guide to take them through it. And that's how they made it across. But like, there weren't any roads, dude. It's like an old buffalo hunting path. Well, so far, this is just like a lovely way to start the day. There is a stop up here. It's called Ross's Hole. I believe it's where they stopped and traded for some horses from the Salish. As we made our way toward Ross's Hole, a historical stop on the way to Lolo, my son's question got me thinking about the team that Lewis and Clark put together. The core of Discovery was a group like none other. Hunters, gunsmiths, woodsmen, soldiers, interpreters, and even slaves made up this group. Some of them went on to become Western legends in their own time, like John Coulter, George Druyard, and Clark's slave, known as York. These men left the civilized world for over two years. And with the exception of Charles Floyd, who died early, most likely of appendicitis, there were no casualties. The skill, grit, and teamwork required of these men and one woman is extraordinary. So we've come near to a place that's called Ross's Hole. And in my research, Ross's Hole is where Lewis and Clark party and their guide across the Bitterroots, Old Toby, met up with the Salish Native Americans. And they traded for, I think, like 19 or 20 horses. But where we are now is really close to the actual spot of Ross's Hole. They camped here along the creek that's just maybe a quarter mile away from here. And they kept going north towards Lolo, which is what we're going to do as well. And there's this really idyllic little church here we thought we'd stop and take a look at. But this wasn't a church like I thought it was at first glance. This was the Sula Montana Schoolhouse. Built in 1897 by local ranchers to give their kids a safe place to learn, it was used until 1936 when the nearby Darby School was opened. The structure has been lovingly restored through community donations and volunteer work. And it feels like stepping back in time to an era with no phones, no iPads, and no TVs. After you had mastered, no matter what your age, after you had mastered all the material in the fourth yearbook, then they would move you to the fifth yearbook. And then after you had shown a teacher you've mastered all of that information, you would keep moving forward. And moving forward is exactly what we kept doing as we made our way north to Lolo, Montana into a place called Traveler's Rest State Park. Welcome to Traveler's Rest State Park in Montana. It's called Traveler's Rest because that's what Lewis and Clark named it because they rested here for a few days before they started their big trek across the Bitterroot Mountains. The place is actually more ancient than that. It was known as a gathering place for Native Americans for who knows how long, thousands of years for all we know. And it's a place where there's a lot of shade, there's the river running through, there's a lot of game to be had. And so they gathered supplies and food, they traded with the Native Americans that were here, and they geared up to hit the Bitterroot Mountains. And I can see why. It is like a little place of refuge right at the foot of Lolo Pass which we're about to drive. So the other thing that's really interesting is that Lewis and Clark stayed here on their way over the mountains and then on their way back. And on their way back they stayed here in 1806 on June 30th. Well today it's 2025 but it's June 30th. So it's cool that we're here on the same day of the month that they arrived. We're going the other direction but it's still really cool. The plan for the night was to camp next to the entrance of the Lolo Motorway which we knew we'd be on for at least the next two full days. We chose to set up camp right near the beginning of the Loxaw River at Powell Campground. Well we decided to go with a campground. We're at Powell Campground and we are right on the Loxaw River. So we're about to walk down and like sit our butts in the river because it's like 90 something degrees and soak in a little bit of the history which is Colt Killed Creek runs right into Loxaw just maybe a quarter mile up here. And that's where Lewis and Clark stopped and camped on the creek. And their hunters weren't successful in getting any food that night and so they wound up killing a colt. And the reason they killed a colt is because in the hierarchy of needs they needed the colt the least. They needed the other grown horses the most to ride and pack things and all those reasons and so when it came time to decide well which of the animals should we kill for food it was almost always the colt. So that's why this is called Colt Killed Creek. Idaho may not have any ocean beaches but we have more miles of whitewater rivers than any other state in the lower 48. There he is he made a halfway cross. And while we may not be able to see the waves rolling into the shore feeling the fresh water flow over the rocks is pretty dang good on a hot day. The river is probably I don't know maybe 45 degrees 50 degrees and it's perfect. It's just the cool off that we need right now. So cheers. Thanks Chris for the beer. The next morning we were up early and Kate and I decided to suffer a little bit up front in order to take advantage of being close to civilization for one last morning. Good morning. It is a beautiful quiet morning to camp this morning but we're kind of in a hurry because we've decided that we're not going to make coffee this morning. We're going to get coffee at the Locksaw Lodge and Kate and I need coffee in a major way. So we're going to hurry up and break down the tents get over to Locksaw Lodge gas up get coffee and then we're going to hit the Lolo. The Lolo motorway is the route that Lewis and Clark took across the Bitterroot Mountains and I'm probably the most excited and maybe the most nervous so far on this trip about that section of trail. It's about a hundred miles or so and so we'll be the most remote that we will have been in the entire trip. But for now it's mission coffee. The Locksaw Lodge was established in 1929 and seems to be thriving today in 2025. This charming hunting lodge had hot chocolate for the kids. And most importantly coffee for Kate and I. Okay we've had our coffee now it's time to air down gas up and hit the Lolo. And here we go. All right we're making our way up to the Lolo and instead of going up hitting the Lolo and going west towards Lewiston we're going to go east for a couple miles because there's a fire lookout up there that I want to try to get to that I'm hoping will just give us kind of a lay of the land so we can kind of get up there and see what the heck this place even looks like. And a fire lookout is probably the best place to do that if we can get up there and fire lookout that we're headed to. I see it that's awesome. Might be a manned fire lookout you guys. Definitely somebody up there. So this is absolutely spectacular not just because of the views but because this is one of the last manned fire stations that are out there. I mean these are few and far between. I've only ever come across one other one in Idaho in all my travels. Crazy to come to a fire tower that's manned. Yeah I think oh I think that's only happened like one other time and that fellow he uh you could tell that he was up there and you know he was definitely not a people person. He preferred being alone. Yeah and it's so cool to meet the guy who who works here and lives here and whose job it is to look for smoke and call in coordinates and so much of this has been replaced by modern technology that it's so cool to see like these kind of vestiges of the old way of doing things and it feels right you know starting the Lolo motorway up here in a manned fire tower looking out over the Bitterroot Mountains and just getting kind of a lay of the land. I can't imagine them getting up to a lookout like this looking across and feeling encouraged. For me it looks absolutely stunningly beautiful because there's a road that we're going to drive but for them this must have been extremely daunting to look at. So we're going to go down we're going to let the forest service worker here get back to their life and peace looking for looking for smoke and get back on to the Lolo and then we will actually hit Lewis and Clark's trail. We're a little bit off of it right now I just wanted to come up to to see kind of what we were about to drive into and it was totally worth it. What an absolute gem. As we left the fire lookout we headed for Forest Service Road 500 also known as the Lolo motorway. This 100 mile stretch of road opens up some of Idaho's most remote rugged and beautiful terrain and is the starting point for Lewis and Clark's most arduous section of their journey west. So we have arrived at what the National Forest Service is kind of deeming the beginning of the Lolo trail the beginning of Lewis and Clark's trek through this part of the Bitterroot Mountains and there's some really good information here on what to do as a traveler in terms of like you know pack in pack out take care of the forest all that stuff. There's also an electronic tour guide that you can download right here you can get on a special wi-fi network at this little kiosk download information and use it on your drive so I guess this is the official start for the Lolo. One of the greatest things about the Lolo motorway is that it's lesser known than some of Idaho's other remote stretches of wilderness which means when you're out there you're very much alone. I'm really excited that we're actually taking the time to really enjoy this instead of just getting through it as quickly as possible. Yeah me too it's much more relaxing enjoyable this way. The excitement on the Lolo doesn't come from obstacles on the trail but rather from the unobstructed views around each corner. Oh I see a historical marker up here of some sort or signage of some sort let's see what this is. So we have arrived at what's called Snowbank Camp which is memorable for two reasons. One this is the place that Rob, Chris and I stayed on our first time through the Lolo which was more of a race than anything else because we were trying to get through the Idaho BDR and this was just one section of it. We came into camp here about 11 30 at night we had a really short night got up and left pretty early in the morning so it's memorable because it's kind of a walk down memory lane like remember oh I camped here and Chris camped there and Rob's over there. So Chris do you uh remember our our night here on the BDR? Oh I'll never forget it. Came in here just enough room for all of our rigs and then we had that encounter with those deer here. Well that's right yeah there were deer that like they were like uh not afraid of people or something they were very like interested in our camp and kept following us around. Yeah they would uh circle in and they would get really close and we would kind of spook them and then they would come right back and then like when we all like had gone up to our tents um you could hear them just kind of like immediately start walking between our rigs so. Weird skin walkers we think. Probably. But it's also memorable because Lewis and Clark camped here it's called Snowbank Camp because there was a three-foot snowbank that had been not melted even though it was September. They had just had a pretty arduous climb up some ridges literally like their horses were falling down the mountain but they came up they were super tired super discouraged it was a really tough night and they cooked up some horse meat because that's what they had to eat. So we're just looking around walking down memory lane taking it all in and seeing if we can just find a little bit of that history magic still lingering here in these woods. So ladies we're here at Snowbank Camp and um some history here with following horses and whatnot and eating horses and whatnot not exactly the most picturesque campsite what do you think do you want to stay here or do you want to keep going? I think we should keep going and we're not having horse for dinner tonight. No. The road that we were driving roughly follows an old Nimiipuu or Nez Perce Native American hunting trail. The Nimiipuu inhabited this part of Idaho for thousands of years before the arrival of Lewis and Clark and this ancient mountain path led countless Nimiipuu ancestors to the buffalo hunting grounds in what's now known as Montana. While there are historical markers along the road that describe the events of Lewis and Clark there is little historical information describing the history of the Nimiipuu trail itself. But traveling this mountain path even in our modern day jeeps you feel a sense of importance a sense of mystery almost a missing piece to the larger story of America. Our modern day western history begins at Lewis and Clark but for the Nimiipuu their entrance onto this trail was the beginning of an end to their relationship with the land. All of the history that came before that beginning is lost to our western senses but it's still here in the trees in the rocks and in the wind stories will never know but stories that the Lolo holds nonetheless. Well it's about two o'clock in the afternoon and we've just been enjoying this rugged but not technical road and all the views it has to offer. I think we're starting to think about finding a campsite like we don't need to have long grueling days we've got plenty of time to explore this trail and so Chris and I just saw a sign for what's called saddle camp don't know what that is maybe that's a camp that Lewis and Clark had not sure we're kind of coming up to a saddle I think it looks like we'll be riding along a ridge so maybe we'll find something up there I'm not sure but if we find a good camp spot we'll probably just take it. This section of the trail is where things started to go from bad to worse for the Corps of Discovery. Their Shoshone guide old Toby had trouble finding the trail and at times was lost. When they did find the trail it was incredibly narrow steep and rugged enough that horses routinely fell down the sides of the mountain. Food was scarce as hunters in the group were mostly unsuccessful at finding any game. Water was in short supply because the route ran along ridges high above the creeks and the weather turned bad and started to snow in September. After more than a year of relative good fortune Lewis and Clark's luck had finally run out. The men along with Sacagawea and her infant son were now slowly freezing thirsting and starving to death. Every decision they made at this point was not about finding the Pacific Ocean it was about survival. All right well we couldn't find saddle camp but we did find bears oil in roots camp which basically tells the story of the Lewis and Clark party not being able to find food or game so they had hunters as part of their 30 some odd group and their job was to go out every day and find game and kill it bring it back and then the cooks would cook it but as they were passing through this particular time of year with these conditions they were having a really hard time finding any game to kill which is crazy because we we've seen wildlife everywhere as we're driving through however they had no luck so Captain Merriweather issued certain amount of bear oil to be used as food to cook roots in and that's what they had for dinner that night so no matter what we have for dinner tonight I dare say it's going to be better than bears oil and roots. It was honestly really hard for us to imagine how bad it was for the corp discovery because our circumstances crossing these mountains were so far very pleasant. Well okay Nelsha what do you think of the Lolo motorway so far? It's beautiful very very uh remote I think that it is so cool um that this once started as like the Nez Perce trail that had been used for so many generations and then Lewis and Clark came through and now we're doing the same route it really blows my mind. I'm ready to call it a day I don't feel like pushing so I'm just like the first good place that we find I'm ready to set up camp call it. I second that emotion. Finding a campsite along the Lolo isn't necessarily hard but we're picky campers so after a little searching we found an acceptable spot. There's a big campsite right here I say we can call this camp. I vote yes camp. The spot that we found was right on the road but it was flat big enough for all four jeeps had shade and offered more Idaho wilderness views not that we'd been in short supply. As evening set in and we set up camp it was time to think about food and Kate and I were on dinner duty for the group that night. Okay tonight it's our turn to cook and we're making Kate's famous chili mac which is relatively easy to make and super delicious. So the first thing we're going to do is brown the turkey meat. Okay next we're going to put in chopped onions and peppers to mix. Okay next we put a lot of stuff in so we're going to do the canned tomatoes we're going to do red beans we do tomato sauce and half a can of refried beans plus I like to do bone broth because it gives us some extra protein and a little bit of water. Okay now we bring this to a boil and then let it simmer for a few minutes before we put the pasta in. In goes the pasta. Precision cooking. Precision. It would be a little crunchy if we try to eat it now. Yes it would. Let's let that cook. Verdict? Verdict of the chili mac? It's spectacular. Spectacular Kate. Everyone has their thing right? The thing they love to do, that they love to share, the thing that makes them happy. I never thought my thing would be chasing stories on an ancient mountain but here we all were finding home together in the deep dark woods. And in the streets we run afree like it's only you and me. Jeez you're something to see. Home, let me come home. Home is wherever I'm with you. Let me come home. Home is wherever I'm with you.