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ALONG THE TRAIL...WITH LEWIS & CLARK

November 19, 2002
Issue #6

Welcome to Along the Trail...With Lewis and Clark.

Each month we will highlight a Point of Interest along the historical trail as well as a featured business. We are trying out a new method for sending out our Lewis Clark newsletter. If you experience any problems, please let us know by emailing us at mailto:info@lewisandclarkidaho.com.

If you are planning a trip during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, be sure to check out our convenient map at http://www.lewisclarknw.com/MSIEPage.htm to find additional places of interest as well as accommodations as you plan your route.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Historical Sites along the Trail
Currently Linked Web Sites

HISTORICAL SITES ALONG THE TRAIL

Montana-Idaho border
Colt Killed Creek

You are welcomed to Idaho as you cross the Montana-Idaho border and gaze southward across the beautiful Packer Meadow. Here you will find a visitor center and in the winter a popular cross-country skiing and snowmobile area.

Like the Corp of Discovery you will drop to the scenic Kooskooskee (Lochsa River) to the present site of the Powell Ranger Station. You will have the advantage of a modern highway but Captain Clark wrote the "road" was "Excessively bad & Thickly Strowed with falling timber….Steep & Stoney."

Arriving at the campsite along the river, the men and horses were very tired and hungry. The hunters had been unsuccessful and found it necessary to kill a colt to eat. They named the creek nearby "Colt Killed Creek." Sadly, the colorful and descriptive name was changed in 1907 by the General land office to White Sands Creek. A right turn about a mile east of the turn off to Powell Ranger Station will put you on the banks of "Colt Killed Creek" and in the immediate area of the Lewis and Clark campsite.

You will be pleased to find that your hunger does not need to be satisfied with colt meat but fine cuisine at a lovely rustic lodge at Powell. Backwoods cabins situated along the Lochsa can also provide overnight accommodations.

Near here you will leave the actual route of the Corp of Discovery for on Sept. 15, 1805, the Lewis and Clark party, following the guide Toby, climbed the mountain on the north side of the river to the ridge line above. The steep climb was made even worse as Clark wrote "the emence quantity of falling timber" hampered the climb to the top of the ridge.

Here imagination comes into play. You are following the beautiful Lochsa, the Corp followed the ridge line not far above you. You are comfortable, they were physically exhausted, their spirits were low and the horses were near starvation.

On westward, your trip will take you along a delightfully clear rushing stream, towering mountains, the glimpse of wildlife including deer, elk, moose, maybe a bear, bobcat or cougar, mountain goats on the rocky crags, colorful wildflowers and shrubs and near the river otter and beaver.

For active recreation, the Lochsa is a world class kayaking and rafting river. Your journey downriver, admittedly a long one with no services until you reach Lowell at milepost 97, will pass many points of interest. They include Jerry Johnson Hot Springs, Colgate Licks National Recreation Trail, Nine Mile Rest Area and Nature Trail, Lochsa Historical Ranger Station, and Major Fenn National Recreation Trail.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip. We'll meet again at Lowell and continue our journey through Lewis and Clark Country.

Article contributed by Lolita (Cheeta) Brown
chimama@camasnet.com

Be sure to visit the sites below while planning your next trip Along the Trail:

CURRENTLY LINKED SITES

Businesses and Information sites currently linked to the Lewis Clark NW web sites:

U.S. Highway 12

Nez Perce National Historical Trail

Lolo, MT

Traveler's Rest

Kooskia, ID

Lewis Clark Road Tours
Kooskia Chamber of Commerce

Kamiah, ID