Trout Fishing

Before leaving Montana we wanted to do more trout fishing. We stopped for a few days at Chief Looking Glass Fishing Access on the Bitterroot River south of Lolo. Some of Montana's Fishing Access camping areas are free but this one had a charge of $7 a day. Of course fly fishing and trout go hand in hand, but a nice fly fishing rod and reel, plus boots, waders, vest, tackle and flies, can easily cost a thousand dollars or more. Being a poor country boy from Kentucky, Norm was use to tying a string on a cane pole, connecting a hook and worm with a bobber to keep it afloat. But instead he used an off the rack Wal*Mart cheap spin casting reel with a bass spinner for bait. Norm and Don saw true fly-fishing fishermen floating down the river and others wading in the river while casting. We never saw one of them catch a fish. On Norm's second cast from shore the old bass spinner bait hooked a large Rainbow trout and he brought it ashore. Fully grown Rainbows reach 12-16 inches in length and this Rainbow was 18 3/8 inches long. Back at camp Don cleaned our catch (Don caught a nice one too) and Norm grilled them for a delicious trout feast.

Lolo Pass

In 1805 Lewis and Clark spent many days crossing the peaks of the Bitterroot Mountain Range from Lemhi Pass to the present town of Lolo, Montana. There they paused for two days to rest and make preparations for crossing the mountains into present-day Idaho. They named their camp Travelers Rest. It is one of their few camp sites that today we can pinpoint exactly where they camped. While there two of the men got sick and Capt. Lewis administered them Dr. Rush's "thunderbolt" pills, a mercury pill that cleaned out one's system. Traces of mercury have been found where the latrine was located and melted lead, fire-cracked rock and charcoal have been found where food was cooked and the blacksmith repaired equipment. A small Montana State Park Visitors Center is located above the camp with a walking trail. A new entrance road, a larger visitors center and additional parking is being built on expanded property and should be open the summer of 2005.

Shoshone Indian guide Old Toby led the expedition through Lolo Pass and to the plains where they met the Nez Perce Indians. Lolo River was small and cluttered with trees so they followed an old Indian road across the side of mountains. It was only September but snow, freezing rain and extremely cold temperatures plagued the expedition's eleven day journey over the mountains. There was no wild game so the men decided to kill two colts for meat and finally broke out portable soup they had carried from Harper's Ferry, Virginia. (Now West Virginia). Starving, sick and exhausted the expedition reached the Nez Perce on a high plain and the Indians nursed them back to life. (More later on the Nez Perce)

Today highway U.S. 12 closely follows the old Indian trail. From Lolo the road rises for 30 miles to an elevation of 7,264 feet at the Pass separating Montana and Idaho where mountains reach peaks of over 8,000 feet. We stopped at the summit and toured the Lolo Pass Visitors Center. The drive down the Pass was adventuresome, interesting and beautiful. After several miles of steep grades with 25 mph curves we saw a sign that said "Steep Curves Next 77 Miles," but in actuality there were 101 miles of down grade with steep curves. The highway follows the beautiful Lochsa River until it flows into the Clearwater River near Kooskia. Both the Martins and us were driving motorhomes with diesel engines and exhaust brakes so the drive was pleasant, nothing like what Lewis and Clark encountered.

Kamiah and Orofino

There is much history of the Nez Perce Indians, mining, old towns and fisheries around the Kamiah and Orofino area so we took several long day drives. On the way to Dworshak Dam we spotted wild blackberries growing beside the road so we stopped and picked a gallon. They were large, juicy and sweet and were delicious on cereal and ice cream. We ate them all so we went back and picked another gallon. Dworshak Dam was completed in 1973 and is the largest straight-line concrete dam in North America. It stands 717 feet high and backs up the North Fork of the Clearwater River forming a lake that drains 2,440 square miles. A generating plant produces 310,000 Kw's of electricity. We drove around the lake, which is sparsely settled, to Dent Bridge, one of the nation's largest cable bridges. The bridge seems to be in the middle of nowhere and connects to paved roads going nowhere. Sitting atop the bridge on one side was a large eagle's nest and on the other side the largest eagle we have ever seen.

Below the dam and fed by water tapped from the dam we found two large fish hatcheries, Clearwater and Dworshak Hatcheries. We toured Clearwater the largest hatchery on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Each year they raise 2.5 million chinook salmon and 800,000 steelhead trout. The hatchery has a 30,600 square foot hatchery building, 77,000 cubic feet of concrete outdoor salmon raceways and 216,000 cubic feet of steelhead raceways. The fish are raised at the hatchery up to eighteen months before being released. They swim from the freshwater of the Clearwater River to saltwater in the Pacific Ocean where they remain as long as three to four years before returning to the Clearwater and its tributaries to spawn. Some chinook, also known as king salmon, grow to as much as five feet in length and weigh up to forty-five pounds. During our hatchery tour we witnessed the fishes' rear top fins being removed and implants placed in their snouts for later identification. Fishermen who catch these hatchery bred fish can keep them and are asked to return the snouts for identification, but wild fish identified by having an anal fin must be released.

Nez Perce

There are 34 Nez Perce Indian National Historic Sites spread across four states. (When we complete the Lewis and Clark Trail we'll report more on the Nez Perce and the Indian tribes the explorers met.) After Lewis and Clark stumbled out of the Bitterroot Mountains sick and starving, Clark crossed the Weipee Plains looking for the Nez Perce. In a meadow he met Nez Perce boys who took him to their village. Lewis and the rest of the Corps of Discovery joined them later and the Indians fed and nursed the explorers back to health. The men of the expedition were used to eating seven to nine pounds of meat daily and the Nez Perce fed them dried salmon, roots and berries causing the men to have severe diarrhea and weakness, but they survived. In the town of Weipee we visited their new visitors center whose outside wall is painted with beautiful murals depicting Lewis and Clark, their men and the Nez Perce. Then we drove to the field, now covered in wheat, where Lewis and Clark met the Nez Perce.

West of present-day Orofino, still weak, the expedition's men made canoes at Canoe Camp for their journey down the Columbia River to the Pacific. To make their work easier the Nez Perce showed the men how to burn out the canoes instead of digging them out. (We visited Canoe Camp and Linda sat in a canoe just like the expedition made.) Lewis and Clark asked the Nez Perce to keep their horses over winter and they would pick them up the next spring. Imagine, entrusting a bunch of strangers, "wild" Indians, to keep your horses for several months. Surely the Nez Perce had earned the trust of the Captains. Sure to their word the Nez Perce not only took care of the horses but nursed them to better health. In the spring of 1806 at Long Camp, east of present-day Kamiah, the Corps of Discovery picked up their horses, camped with the Nez Perce a few weeks, then the Nez Perce led them through an easier path back across the Bitterroot Mountains. The Nez Perce people were an honest, loving and helpful tribe and it is a shame how they were later treated by the Federal Government as will be reported next month.

Pierce

The first gold in Idaho (then part of Washington Territory) was discovered at Pierce and the state's first government building, the Shoshone County Courthouse was constructed there in 1862. Miners refused to respect the Nez Perce's land and the government looked the other way. In 1863 the government took the land from the Indians and sold it to miners which eventually led to the Nez Perce War of 1877. Chinese worked the mines and were a cheap source of labor. By 1870 the Chinese made up 77% of the town's population and had bought abandoned mining claims. Mounting anti-Chinese pressure resulted in the U.S. enacting the Exclusion Act of 1882 denying Chinese entrance into the U.S. and not allowing Chinese to bring family members to this country. This act was not repealed until 1943. In many western towns Chinese were not allowed to walk streets in daylight so they dug underground tunnels to get from house to house and to businesses. In 1890 Chinese were banned from owning mines in Idaho. Several Chinese were hanged near Pierce and to add insult to injury, in 1927 the bones of the buried Chinese of Pierce were dug up and shipped to China.

Raspberry Festival

Near Cottonwood we attended a raspberry festival on the grounds of the high school and adjoining grounds of Monastery Chapel, the Benedictine Sisters of the Monastery of St. Gertrude. The chapel was built in 1919-1924 and is beautifully decorated with art from Germany. A sister led us through the chapel on a narrative tour. Outside we enjoyed an antique auto display, craft booths and of course some delicious raspberry shortcakes. Before leaving Cottonwood we stopped at the Doghouse Bed and Breakfast, a unique B&B built to resemble a dog.

Hells Canyon

Our next stop was the twin towns of Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington (named for Lewis and Clark) for our long awaited boat trip through Hells Canyon on the Snake River. There are several outfits giving river tours and after researching on the internet we chose Snake Dancer Excursions. We are glad we did because after seeing other tours we knew we had the best. Our trip lasted all day and we ventured 94 miles up the Snake River and 94 miles back down. Our boat was 26-feet long, had comfortable cushion seats and was powered by twin 350-hp engines. Mid morning we stopped at Cache Creek for a continental breakfast, at historic Kirkwood Ranch for a delicious lunch buffet and mid-afternoon for a cookie break. Our boat had a restroom and at our three stops there were restrooms and walking trail to stretch our legs. Our guide stopped to point out interesting and historic sites and mule deer and bighorn sheep.

With an average depth of 5,500 feet Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America. From He Devil Mountain, elevation 9,393 feet, the canyon plunges 7,913 feet in 1 1/2 miles to the mouth of Granite Creek at 1,480 feet. The river depth varies from two or three feet to 105 feet with many rapids that were easily run by our skilled captain. We shot many Class I - Class III rapids. Our trip took us to places named Heller Bar, Zig Zag, Steep Creek, Rush Creek, Waterspout and Suicide Point. The majestic mountains were awesome to see from the river and often the river seemed to disappear only to reappear after rounding a bend.

There are shorter tours available but we highly recommend the all day trip - $110.00 per person including all taxes and fees. Snake Dancer Excursions, Clarkston, WA - 1-800-234-1941 - http//www.snakedancerexcursions.com (It is a safe trip for people of all ages and abilities. Snake Dancer told us their youngest customer was 15 months old and the oldest was 102 years old.)

Lewiston

Before leaving Lewiston we visited two sites, the Nez Perce Spalding Site and Hells Canyon State Park Visitors Center. The Spalding Site is home to the Headquarters of Nez Perce Historical Park, the granddaddy of the 34 Nez Perce National Historic Sites. The present-day community was originally called Lapwai and served as a traditional homesite for over 11,000 years to the Thlep-thlep-weyma band of the Nez Perces. In 1836 Henry and Eliza Spalding, Christian missionaries, moved to the site and the community was named after them. Before his death Spalding baptized over 900 Indians including Chiefs Timothy and Joseph, father of the now famous son Chief Joseph. The visitors center contains a fine museum and shows a movie on the history of the Nez Perce. On display is the original ribbon given by Clark to the Nez Perce boys and a peace medal given to a chief.

The Visitors Center at Hells Gate State Park south of Lewiston opened the day we visited. They have displays inside and outside, but the film of the expedition's journey across the Bitterroot Mountains and the meetings with the Nez Perce Indians was the best Lewis and Clark movie we have seen on our trip.