August 30- Over the Lolo Trail (or, Richard Rides a Horse).
September 7: Because of the fires in the Lolo Pass area, I couldn’t ride
the trail from Lolo Hot Springs across the pass into
Idaho. Instead, I hiked as far as Wendover Campground
on Rt. 12 in Idaho, then hitched back to Hot Springs for
another night at the motel. On Thursday, August 31, I
met Harlan and Barbara Opdahl of Triple O Outfitters,
and Harlan and I set out on horseback along the Lewis
and Clark/Nez Perce Trail through the Bitterroot
Mountains in the Clearwater National Forest. Having
never been on a horse before, I was both excited and
apprehensive about this part of the journey. When I told
Harlan I’d never ridden a horse, his less than reassuring
response was, “That’s all right, we have horses that have
never had riders.” We had four horses in our group, two
for riders and two for packing our gear. Their names
were Surprise, Stormy, Lightning, and Corky. Guess
which horse was mine. Corky and I hit it off instantly,
and I couldn’t have had a better guide and companion
than Harlan.
Harlan and his mount.
The weather, however, turned sour. After our first day
on the trail, a cold front settled in, and for the next five
days we had cold, fog, rain, sleet, and snow. To my
surprise, the trail follows ridges rather than valleys, and
our elevation ranged between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. The
terrain is rugged and steep, and I can imagine how
discouraging it must have been for Lewis and Clark to
have seen a seemingly endless string of ridges between
them and the Pacific Ocean. We completed the blazed
part of the trail in five days, and spent the sixth day
exploring the path Lewis and Clark probably took from
Lolo Campground to Weippe. I’m surprised greater effort
hasn’t been taken to blaze the actual routes Lewis and
Clark took on the overland part of their expedition.
While some of their route traverses private property,
much of it runs through national forests. Perhaps the
growing interest in the expedition as we near the
bicentennial celebration will create some impetus to
blaze a more complete Lewis and Clark trail across the
Lemhi and Lost Trail Passes, and through the Bitterroot
Mountains to Weippe or Orofino.
Richard's firey steed.
From Weippe, I hiked down to Orofino, where I had
stored my kayak at Canoe Camp on the Clearwater River.
Canoe Camp is just below the convergence of the North
Fork of the river with the Middle Fork, and there was
plenty of water - and plenty of current - to carry me
down to the Snake River at Clarkston, Washington. It
was an exhilarating ride until I reached Lewiston, Idaho,
where the current slows as it passes by paper mills
which emit an overpowering sulfurous stench. I’ve now
reached the last section of my journey - about 500 miles
through Washington on the Snake and Columbia Rivers
to the Pacific Ocean.
Click here for days 154 - 158 of Richard's journal
