Tuesday, September 14

NOTE: Our campground claimed WiFi access, but it did not exist. So this post done Thursday, September 13, 2018

September 11th;  Left Great Falls, MT, Dick's RV Campground, headed to Lolo, MT.  We left at 9:00am, 55degrees; saw Lewis' "Square Buttes" to the west driving North on Rt15;  We crossed the Continental Divide (elevation 5,610) at 10:30 and got pictures where water heads to the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans from these mountains.

Campfires to the left of Wilma and framed tent
structures to the right in the field.

The Travelers Rest Camp is in the open field from the
right through the woods to the left.

We also drove by Alice's Creek (the road to the remote Lewis and Clark Pass) by Lincoln, MT on Rt 200.

How ironic is this that on September 11th, 2018, Bill and Wilma Bogertman are retracing Lewis and Clark's journey on the Lolo Pass and Traveler's Rest, MT JUST AS LEWIS AND CLARK WERE TOO, SEPTEMBER 9-11 COMING DOWN TO WEIPPE PRAIRIE ON SEPTEMBER 18TH! 213 YEARS AGO TO THE DAY.

Traveler's Rest State Visitor's Center, Lolo, MT Saw dead Bobcat or Lynx dead on road.  One beautiful corner after another winding through the valleys on Rt 200 brings majestic views. We followed Clark Fork through Missoula, MT and then along the Bitterroot River by Missoula, MT got to camp at 12:45 and set up quickly. We left at 2:00pm for Traveler's Rest Visitors Center in Lolo, MT and walked into a dark Visitor's Center room. "Oh, we're closed" said the Park Manager, but we walked the 1 mile interpretative trail where their camp was on the Lolo Creek, once west in 1805 and once east in 1806). We were able to see where their cooking fires were, their tents and even their latrines! (Yup, archaeologists found soil samples with high mercury content, which was the main ingredient of Dr. Benjamin Rush's "thunderclapper pills" ((remember him from Philadelphia!)). 

"The whole poop and nuthin' but the poop"

Military Camp protocol was laid out by, you guessed it,
none other than Baron von Steuben, Prussian General
aiding George Washington's Army in NJ during the
Revolutionary War.

On the Trail to L&C Glade Creek Campsite, Lolo, ID

Snowshoe trail marker.

Lolo Pass Visitors Center, ID
We then left at 2:40 for a 35 mile ride west on Rt 12 to Lolo Pass (elevation 5,235ft) where the Corps camped before going over Bitterroot Mountains (we just followed Lolo Creek up to the Lolo Pass Visitor's Center on MT/ID border. (In Idaho, we changed to Pacific from Mountain time (1 hour earlier).  

We walked three trails at Lolo Visitors to actually view L&C's "Glade Camp" which was an 1805-06 west and east camp. The 2+mile Glade Trail writers claim is still as pristine and untouched since and hasn't changed much in the 215 years since L&C came and went. This is Nez Perce and Flathead Indian tribe territory.  

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will complete our Travelers Rest Visitor's Center visit then head out to the campground in Orofino, ID and go to the Library/Discovery Center in Wieppe (Nez Perce and pronounced Wee-ip) Prairie, ID.  

We left Lolo Pass, ID for camp at 4:45 but first went to dinner at Bamboo Chopstick for a delicious Chinese dinner. (What a shock!  If there is one constant since we've left, it's McDonalds, it's Chinese Restaurants, its Bud Lite Trailer Trucks and Brown UPS Trucks, in every stinkin' state!)

What a lovely campsite, nestled in the pines with Red Breasted Nuthatches and Magpies calling and singing.