Lemhi Pass, Idaho & Montana - September 2018

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The Grand Adventure - Summer 2018 - Part Four

 

 

Lewis & Clark

Adventure and exploration has always captivated me. I suspect it started when I was a kid wearing my Davy Crockett coon skin cap and pretending to be the buckskin clad hero I saw each week on the TV screen. Lessons in school expanded upon this when I heard the stories of Lewis & Clark. I was fascinated with anything about the exploration of the West. 

Now I find I appreciate the history so much more; maybe I've matured some, and, I hope, gained some measure of wisdom.

All this takes on so much more meaning when we stand at the actual spots where events recorded in Lewis & Clark's journals took place. What a thrill it would be to have a window to the past open up to have a glimpse back in time.

After doing Laundromat chores, the long hot shower, and dinner in Challis, we continued down the Salmon River and stayed the night in Cottonwood Campground.

Friday morning we resupplied with groceries in Salmon and headed south on Highway 28. We were headed to Lemhi Pass, the place where Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery crossed the Continental Divide.

Out of Tendoy, Idaho we found the Lewis and Clark Back Country Byway and started our climb up the western side of the divide.

Our first stop was Sharkey Hot Springs, a nicely developed natural hot springs managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

A family group was enjoying their time here and I did not intrude by taking photos. You'll have to stop by yourselves sometime to check it out.

We crossed over Lemhi Pass from west to east, I believe you would enjoy the drive and signage much more by doing it from east to west, the way Lewis & Clark traveled.

We got our first view of Lemhi Pass from a high point along the ridge to the north.

On the east side of the Continental Divide, at the location of a spring, is an area dedicated to the memory of Sacajawea.

We spent time here and enjoyed taking in the feel of the place and searched for that window into the past.

I will put the signage along the Back Country Byway into proper sequence, as if we traveled east to west.

We had to, we just had to, reenact McNeal standing with a foot on each side of "the mighty and heretofore deemed endless Missouri".

This was a wonderful way to touch history.

 

Note - Lewis & Clark did not name this Lemhi Pass. This naming came much later when Mormon settlers arrived in Idaho.

It was now mid afternoon and we continued east, down toward the Atlantic Ocean. Our next stop was a two day stay along a creek originally named by Captain William Clark - " … which we call Willard's Creek after Alexander Willard one of our party." Although gold seekers pouring into this part of Montana in the mid 1800's renamed it "Grasshopper Creek", our time there was a highlight of our Grand Adventure.

A big thank you to our North Carolina friend, Foy for suggesting and motivating us to follow Lewis & Clark's route over the Continental Divide.