We left our home in Florida on Friday, June12, 2015. Two days later we made our first Missouri River siting near Marion, MO, about 140 miles west of St. Louis. During the next 10 days we would follow the original route of L&C's Expedition as best we could, going northwest into western North Dakota, where we turned west heading to the Pacific Coast. After completing our mission, we would take a more leisurely route home down the Pacific Coast to Santa Rosa, CA where we would turn east to explore Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas and finally return home in Florida two weeks later.
Our first impression of the Missouri River was much different than we had expected. The river was muddy and moving swiftly with many floating tree limbs and other debris which could inflict serious damage to anything or anyone floating on the surface. It was hard to imagine rowing against the strong current that must have also been present in June, 1804. The images below were taken from the river bank between Marion, MO and Kansas City, MO. There were no markers near the river to indicate that anything significant had ever happened here.
The river flowed peacefully through South Dakota in a generally north-to-south direction through the center of the state. The landscape was mostly manicured farmland with occasional views of the river from elevated overlooks far from the river. South Dakota seemed to take little notice of the Missouri River and the traffic both on the river and the highways was light in both directions. Enjoy the scenery, below, as we did.
After a two day absence, we returned to Montana, passing through southern Yellowstone NP on our way westward toward Idaho. Crossing the Bitterroot Mountain Range and going through Lolo Pass was a relaxing and scenic drive for us. It was a difficult and challenging route, however, for Lewis and Clark. The rivers were shallow, swift moving and un-navigable and the mountains were thickly covered with trees and underbrush.
We returned to SR-24 and turned east, making our way to Durango, CO, where we stayed for several days. We used Durango as our hub as we ventured out on day trips to see the rest of southeast Utah. Our first day trip was to the Valley of the Gods we had first seen from the Moki Dugway overlook (below, left). Other views of the Moki Dugway from below on SR-261 are shown below, right.
The official termination of the Lewis and Clark Expedition is at the present-day site of Fort Clatsop National Park in Northwest Oregon. By the time we crossed the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon, we arrived at Fort Clatsop after it closed for the day. We were not disappointed, however, because this was not the original site of the fort and this fort was only a recreation. We decided instead to take in the beautiful scenery along the Oregon Coast as the fog rolled in for the evening.
Little changed in North Dakota, where the river still flowed casually southward from the center of the state. North Dakota, however, has done more to preserve the history surrounding the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Near the center of the state, the Missouri River turns to a more westerly direction (as we're retracing L&C's trail) and the state has erected an interpretive center and a recreation of Fort Mandan where L&C's party spent the winter between 1804 and 1805. Both the interpretive center (below left, that's Seaman in the middle) and the fort (lower right) pay tribute to the resilience and determination of L&C to complete their mission.
Continuing westward along the Missouri, we came to Fort Benton, MT, a small town that has gone to considerable efforts to commemorate the L&C expedition. One of Fort Benton's achievements is the construction of a walkway along the Missouri River with wonderful, relaxing views of the river. Another achievement was the construction of a nice statue of Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea in the small park downtown next to the river. Although Sacagawea appears to be an adult woman in this statue, she was barely a teenager during this part of the journey in 1805 and her infant son was less than a year old.
As we made our way toward South Dakota, the river bed widened, the landscape flattened and the vegetation changed from tall trees to plush grasses. The river was wide and flowing slowly near Vermillion, SD (below left). One of the highest vantage points near here was Spirit Mound at 75 feet, discovered by L&C some 30 miles from the river (below right).
Within Arches NP there didn't seem to be many restrictions (besides "no pets allowed") about where to walk. In fact, walking on, in and around any of the arches seemed to be encouraged. We did not like to leave the dogs alone in the car, so we rarely hiked any of the long trails. One trail we did walk for a short distance was Devil's Garden Trail.
After spending the night in Torrey, UT, we headed east along SR-24, passing through Capital Reef National Park to SR-95. Here we turned south and passed through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Natural Bridges National Monument on our way to US-191, where we turned north toward Monticello, UT.
We finally reached Cape Disappointment in the southwest corner of Washington on June 25, 2015 and like L&C, we were still 20 miles from the Pacific Coast. Unlike the foul weather that L&C experienced, the weather for us was perfectly clear and we were able to proceed to our final destination without delay. At 4:53 PM local time on June 25, 2015 we reached our goal - the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River. We had retraced the route of Lewis and Clark's Expedition from St. Louis, MO to the Pacific Ocean in just under two weeks.
We left Durango on Tuesday, July 7 and drove about 3 hours south to Albuquergue, NM where we left our car for repairs at the Ford dealer, and drove our loaner car to the Stabile's for three days. It was great to get reacquainted with Bruce and Brenda and to meet all the kids and dogs. Our dogs were especially happy to finally be released from the back seat of the car and to run free through the yard and house. This was our first opportunity in about four weeks to relax and be free of the responsibilities of navigation and trip planning. The Stabiles took very good care of us while we patiently waited for the repairs to our car to be completed.
We finally left Albuquerque on Thursday, July 9 and headed southeastward toward Texas, and eventually, home in Florida. We stopped on the way to visit Henry and Wanda Valenzuela in Georgetown, TX , near Austin on Friday, July 10. We finally arrived home late Sunday afternoon, July 12, exactly one month after we began this wonderful, exciting and unforgettable journey.
Craig Johnson actually lives about 15 miles northeast of Buffalo in Ucross, WY, population 25. There aren't many nice houses in Ucross and one of them is down a long lane and not visible from the highway (see below, top-left). We suspect Craig lives in one of these "nice" houses. The other photos below are representative of the fine scenery and wildlife Wyoming had to offer.
Yes, somewhere up there, was where we were the day before! The Valley of the Gods was a smaller, but not less impressive, version of Monument Valley we would see next. To its credit, the Valley of the Gods has no paved roads, visitor center or concession stands. It does have one B&B that was closed for vacation. We saw no other cars or visitors on our 10 mile loop through the valley on a narrow one-lane dirt road.
In Idaho we passed through the Clearwater National Forest and the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. The Nez Perce Indians were largely responsible for the success of the L&C Expedition through this section of their journey. As we passed through Idaho and entered Washington, the landscape slowly changed from rugged forests to rolling farmlands.
After visiting Arches NP we drove west to the north entrance to Canyonlands National Park, which although not as deep as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, is no less impressive. Although many people hike down to and through the canyons inside the park, it's also possible to drive 2-wheel-drive vehicles on paved roads down into the canyons for an entirely different perspective. We spent most of our time on the rim, however, taking in these breathtaking views.
This was by far the most complex yet entertaining trip we have undertaken. Our primary objective was to retrace the expedition of Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the west coast completed 200 years earlier. We would not be, however, going the easy way by boat as they had done, but by the more difficult route, by car! While going by boat would have been the more direct route, we did not have the luxury of having "helpers" to row the boat, guide the expedition, hunt for food or fight off the mosquitoes. We did, however, have the help of our dear friends that we have known and traveled with for many years - Del and Rosie Collins. Years ago Del had planned this trip to be made with the aid of AAA road maps and a trusty compass. Alternately we chose to use our more reliable electronic navigation system and GPS for guidance. Our electronic devices, however, successfully got us lost several times, but thankfully, we had Del's road maps to get us back on track.
The descriptions and photos below are divided into two parts. The first part describes the route from just west of St. Louis to the Washington coast primarily following Del and Lewis and Clark's road maps and expedition. The second part describes the return trip from Washington, down the Oregon and California coasts, across Nevada and Utah, down through New Mexico and Texas and finally to our home in Florida. Both parts of this trip were thoroughly enjoyable, but for entirely different reasons. Part one was historical and educational. Part two was just plain awesome! We were in 23, or nearly half, of the lower 48 states on this trip; some we can't wait to go back to, others we'll avoid, thank you. Utah we couldn't get enough of; Nevada was the loneliest state we crossed! Montana and Wyoming just seemed simultaneously fictional and magical.
This trip took many months to plan and execute. We don't want to rush completing the novel that results below. It'll take some time for us to organize and describe the many photos we want to include, so please be patient with us. Return frequently for the latest update as we tell this exciting story. We took over 2500 photos during this trip and are trying to reduce that number to less than 100 for your pleasure, but it's a challenge we've accepted.
The internet was a vast source of information for the Lewis and Clark Exploration and many books have been written about the subject. We were not so much interested in the historical facts of the adventure, but more so interested in the navigation and physical challenges they encountered. Del Collins' AAA maps were our primary source of directions which led us to the following map we would follow to the west coast and return to our home in Florida.
From the south end of the Sonoma Valley we turned east and headed to Sacramento, CA and then farther east to Lake Tahoe where we spent the night. We were very disappointed with what had been described as a beautifull scenic drive around Lake Tahoe which, for us, turned into a drive through and around numerous crowded parking lots and shopping malls. Granted we were there during one of the busiest seasons of the year (other than winter skiing season), but what we remembered as a quiet little resort town has now become overgrown and crowded.
From Lake Tahoe we headed east across Nevada on US-50, designated "The Loneliest Road in America." This highway meanders generally east to west across the central Nevada high desert. Without the frequent passing vehicles from the opposite direction, we would have felt isolated and vulnerable. There was one stretch of over 190 miles without services (that included rest areas, service stations, and restaurants - all absent). Had we been more adventurous we would have made this trip at night; X-Files and UFOs be damned.
Buffalo, WY is a colorful town with a western, cowboy flavor and welcoming residents. We had timed our arrival so that we could have the "usual" lunch special at the Busy Bee Cafe where the fictional Walt Longmire "usually" dines. If you're not familiar with the books and TV series based on Craig Johnson's fantasies, check out this You Tube video.
Away from the river's banks, however, there were numerous plaques, signs and forts to commemorate the achievements of Lewis and Clark. There were, unfortunately, no views of the river from these sites. To its credit, the state of Missouri did do justice to Lewis and Clark and their accomplishments by erecting parks at Arrow Rock, Fort Osage and Kansas City, although none of these sites make any reference to the importance of the Missouri River.
Lewis and Clark Expedition, June - July, 2015
If you know Norma very well you know that there was no way we were going any farther down this road. Although there are many people who drive thousands of miles frequently just for the thrill of driving on this stretch of road, we were not going to be two of them. If you push the button marked "Moki Dugway" on the right you can watch a You Tube video of the drive down the road. The video is about 10 minutes long. The first overlook we took the photos above from is at the 1 minute mark. Aren't you impressed we made it this far? Two ladies from Canada have made this trip several times and you can see a description of this road on their website on the right called "Travels with Grama."
There's a shortcut the truckers and locals take to get from SR-24 to Mexican Hat, UT on US-191. SR-261 goes through the Valley of the Gods and over a treacherous stretch of highway called the Mokee Dugway (or Moki Dugway to some). We took the turnoff from SR-24 onto SR261 and went as far as the first overlook on the Mokee Dugway to see the Valley of the Gods below.
We were in no hurry to get home; unlike the first part of our trip, the second part was more freelance and open to negotiation. We had always wanted to see the Pacific Coast north of San Francisco and the entire state of Utah, so these were "must does" on our wish list. We also wanted to stop in Albuquerque, NM and Austin, TX to visit friends we hadn't seen for awhile, so the general trend of heading southeast back toward Florida made sense. The dogs were now comfortable in their travel arrangements in the car, so we could be more flexible in our hotel amenity requirements.
The first two days of our return trip were spent traveling down the Oregon and California coasts, first stopping to photograph lighthouses we were able to find, second driving thru the truly awesome spectacle known as Redwood Forest State Park and third visiting our favorite California wine country, the Sonoma Valley.
We've been to Monument Valley several times but it never seems to lose its magic. We had arrived in time to have lunch at Goulding's Lodge. We had the Navajo version of a taco salad; delicious with Navajo bread as the crust. Enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of the best motion picture backdrop in the world.
We took this opportunity ourselves to take a rest from the Lewis and Clark Expedition and take a detour through Yellowstone National Park and northern Wyoming. We passed through northern Yellowstone on our way to Buffalo, WY, home of the fictional stories and TV show Longmire. We passed several Yellowstone residents on our way through the NP and also enjoyed some beautiful scenery in northwestern Wyoming.
Up to now we had been impressed by the beauty and serenity of the Missouri River. That changed quickly when we reached Great Falls, MT. It was unfortunate that it was necessary to build two dams for flood control and electricity generation upstream of the great falls that were one of the highlights (good and bad) of the Lewis and Clark expedition. We felt it was a poor choice to build both dams upstream of the falls, severely restricting the flow of water over the falls and thus their beauty. An early photo of the falls before the dams were built (below, left) shows their impressive power and raw beauty. Also, to place one of the dams so near the falls was a disgrace to the natural beauty of the area and a huge distraction to the photographic quality of the falls themselves (below, center). However, downstream of the falls, the river did quickly return to its natural splendor and tranquillity (below, right), albeit at a slower pace.
Lewis and Clark first spotted Mount Hood while on the Columbia River on October 18, 1805 while they were just east of the Dalles, OR. We found the mountain to be covered with snow on June 25, 2015; Clark had noted that the mountain was also capped with snow in October. As we came closer to the Pacific Coast, the view of Mount Hood became more spectacular and the landscape changed from rolling meadows to rugged rocks and lush forests.
It wasn't until we got into Nebraska that the Missouri River settled down to a steadier pace and its color turned from a muddy brown into a more natural sky and landscape reflecting blue/green. As the landscape flattened out and the dense forests turned into rolling grasslands, overlooks and parks near the water's edge were more numerous. We found a campground/park on the river near Decatur, NE where we could relax and stroll along the riverbank (below left and center). Blackbird Scenic Overlook (below right) was higher on the riverbank, but the view of the river from the higher vantage point was still almost blocked.
After spending the night at Ely, NV we headed south on beautiful scenic US-93 and then turned east on SR-56 to Cedar City, UT. From here we headed east across Utah along the most scenic and inspiring highways we have ever seen in America. The highlights along the way included stops at Cathedral Gorge State Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, but the roads connecting these parks were truly awesome in their own ways. As you might expect we took hundreds of photos and had great difficulties choosing only a few to display below.
After crossing the border from North Dakota into eastern Montana, the terrain became so flat that without a map and GPS guidance, following the Missouri River became nearly impossible. There were few hints that a river even existed (below left) and purely by accident we happened upon an overlook of one of the most relevant sites of historic significance. This was the confluence of the Missouri and Marias Rivers (below right) where L&C spent several days figuring out which direction to go. They chose the right direction (albeit for the wrong reasons) and history was made. Who knows, we might now be a part of Mexico or Canada had they made another choice.
On our return trip to Durango the next day to spend our final night in Colorado, we drove through the south entrance into Canyonlands NP. While the north entrance goes primarily around the rim of the canyons, the south entrance is mainly inside the canyon walls and the scenic views are up rather than out and down. It was similar in a way to driving through Oak Creek Canyon from Flagstaff to Sedona, AZ, only with fewer oak trees. The rock formations were no less red or majestic. As we had observed the previous day, there was very little traffic on the roadways and few visitors at the scenic pull-offs. Even the thieving crows in the parking lots seemed bored and restless.
As we entered western Montana, the landscape slowly changed from rolling grasslands to rugged hills and the hint of ominous mountains in the distance. We passed the headwaters of the Missouri River and entered the area (now known as Travelers Rest State Park) where L&C spent several weeks recuperating from illnesses and preparing to cross the Bitterroot Mountains.
The next day we drove from Durango, CO to Moab, UT, visiting Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, north entrance. Words and photos cannot begin to describe how truly awesome and spectacular this drive and the parks were. This is something everyone needs to put on their bucket list and to do before it's too late. Granted the day after July 4 may not be the best time to visit Arches NP, but surprisingly, no one was in Canyonlands NP! Our only increment weather during the whole L&C trip occured while we were in Arches NP - there was a downpour of pea-sized hail that lasted about 10 minutes. But besides the hail and the crowds, we were able to collect many photographic memories that may inspire others to make this one of their future destinations.
After lunch at the Buckskin Bar and Grill in Killdeer, ND we proceeded westward to a great overlook of the Missouri River near Sandish, ND. Although of no particular historic significance, we enjoyed the chance to relax and take in the beauty of the Missouri River valley in western North Dakota.
The last leg of our journey to the Pacific Coast was along the Columbia River, which shares the borders of Washington and Oregon on its way to the Pacific Ocean. With the exception of a paddle-wheel cruise ship, we saw no traffic on the Columbia River. The river has carved a deep canyon in the landscape, which is otherwise flat on both sides of the river.
Southwest Colorado has its own unique scenery, and the drive from Durango to Telluride is no exception. It's just that July 4 is NOT the day to go. It seems that when Saturday and July 4 coincide, everyone goes to Telluride. So we got close enough to take these photos, then turned around and returned to Durango to finish our laundry!