Leaving Missoula,
we traveled South down the Bitterroot Valley and made the seven mile climb over Lost Trail Pass into Idaho. After a brief rest stop, we began the descent
into the Salmon River
Valley. Slowly…..descending a six degree slope with
hairpin turns and being pushed by over 34,000 pounds of metal can be
harrowing. At 30 MPH with the exhaust
brake roaring we reached level ground and checked into Waters Edge RV Park, a
nice park with sites backing up to the North Fork of the Salmon
River. This is a narrow and
beautiful Valley, with mountains both east and west, and only small towns along
the river. The next day we backtracked
to the tiny town of Gibbonsville
and picked up a dirt road to the East.
We spent an hour or so climbing back out of the valley on multiple
switchbacks through the forest until crossing back into Montana
and the Big Hole Valley. This is a beautiful place; a sparsely
populated high valley (6000’) 20 miles wide and 75 miles long, home of some of
the oldest cattle ranches in Montana.
At the north end of the
valley is the Big
Hole Battlefield
National Park.
In 1877 the Nez Perce, led
by Chief Joseph, were attacked in the early morning in an attempt to stop their
escape to Canada. After many women and children were killed,
the Nez Perce regrouped, captured the army’s howitzers, killed 29 and seriously
wounded over 40, and held the soldiers in the forest while the women and
children escaped. The Nez Perce story is
told in an informative visitor center and there are paths to the location of
the Nez Perce village.
In the lower
parking lot next to the paths are shaded picnic tables – a good place to have
lunch.
Back at our RV site, it
was tempting to just stay there,
relax in a chair under the trees, and nap with
the sound of the river right at your feet.
But there were places to explore, so:
Sometimes we run across
things we didn’t expect – like an Amish store we discovered on our travel to
the Lewis & Clark Historic Trail.
They had sandwiches on their home-made bread and local meats and
cheese. It was amusing to see that most
of their merchandise came from the Walnut Creek Marketplace, a store we visited
twice while in Sugarcreek, Ohio.
Stocked up with lunch, we headed up another dirt road into the Beaverhead
range of the Bitterroot Mountains to intersect the route that Lewis and Clark
took to cross the Continental Divide and enter what is now Idaho.
Climbing from the valley
into the forest, the dirt road
(which was in good condition) to led us to the
summit 2500’ above our starting point. A
horseshoe turn started us back down and to the Lemhi Pass
marker, where there were information panels and picnic tables.
After a windy lunch, we headed back down and
after a little over an hour of travel, were back on the highway. We never tire of visiting Lewis and Clark
historic sites; their journey is simply beyond our ability to comprehend. Imagine the struggle to reach the pass, only
to look into the distance and see that there was an even higher mountain range
in the distance.
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| Lewis and Clark Monument |
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| Looking West from Lemhi Pass |
Back on the valley floor,
we stopped in Salmon for a visit to the Sacajawea Interpretive, Cutlural, and Education Center, a 71-acre park dedicated to the life of the Shoshone woman who was born in the area. The centerpiece of the park is the beautiful bronze statue of Sacajawea holding her baby.
Next stop - Challis, the home of the Yankee fork.
