LoLo Creek; On the Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark Trail

     In early September my wife Louise and I traveled a section of the historic Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark Trail, in north central Idaho.  It's also called the LoLo trail and it hugs a high mountain ridge, above the Lochsa River.  The elevation of the much of this trail is around 6,000 feet and the Lochsa River is 5 miles to the south at mere 2,500 feet.  The LoLo trail follows the old Nez Perce Indian trail that has been used over the millennium by the American Indians, traveling from the Palouse country, east to the Great Plains.   The Indians followed this trace to hunt buffalo in the plains country of what now is eastern Montana.   The mountains in this region are incredibly rugged and heavily forested and winters snows hang on well into June some years. 
      Our first camp was on LoLo Creek, which flows to the west and merges with the Clearwater River.  The campground was empty so we had our choice of locations and we found the perfect spot.  Right on the creek.  LoLo Creek is a silver ribbon of painfully cold and clear water, surrounded by old growth forest.  Western Red cedar, western white pine, Douglas fir, and grand fir.  A grand ancient forest.  At our camp there were several rounds of fire wood scattered about.  Western red cedar.  Dry.  Ready to burn.  Splitting maul required, which I just happened to have stowed in my pickup.  The cedar split with ease.  Butterwood.    I soon had a roaring fire that spit fire brands in several feet in every direction.   Like so many  incendiary rounds which were a real nuisance.  I deployed the tent and walked down to the creek, to check out the water hoping to see a 40 pound King Salmon darting up the swift water.  A finned silvery torpedo of muscle and brain, cruising its home waters, after a long trek from the Pacific Ocean, some 400 miles away. There were no fish to be seen. 
     Lewis and Clark traversed this area in 1805 on their way to their coastal wintering area, where they constructed Fort Clatsop on the lower Columbia River.  In 1806 the Corps of Discovery left the coast headed back for the St. Louis Missouri, and camped in this region for more than a month.   The deep snows on the LoLo trail in the Clearwater Mountains and the distant Bitterroot Range kept Lewis and Clark in camp for a month.  The expedition members spent their time trading with the Nez Perce and hunting deer, elk and bear and fishing for salmon and trout. By mid June the snows had melted enough that they were able to cross the Bitterroot Range.  
     We relaxed that evening, and the breeze carried the pleasing smell of spruce and cedar, while LoLo Creek played a symphony; water rushing over pebbles and tumbling over stubborn stone.   The next day we would drive to the east and begin the climb to the main ridge line. There were still several rounds of cedar firewood left the next morning and I smuggled them aboard my truck.          































its

Lewis and Clark at Whitehouse Pond

Whitehouse Pond

Lochsa River

My wife Louise and I were on the way to Missoula and decided to take the route across the Bitterroot Mountains. Through the big gap called LoLo Pass. Winter seemed to be waning, and the road along the Lochsa River would probably be snow free. Maybe. I expected the pavement to be bare with lots of snow on the peaks and ridges.

The Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark trails traversed this region, mostly along the main ridge line just to the north of the Lochsa River. Travel was much easier along the ridges, rather than following along the narrow, rocky, log strewn, river bottom. The Nez Perce used this trail to travel east to buffalo country, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition came that way in 1805, led by an Indian scout; following the ancient footpath of moccasins and Indian horses, on a trace 3,000 feet higher in elevation than the river below.

There didn't seem to be much snow in the mountains and the ice was gone from the river, except where ice jams had pushed thick slabs high onto the banks. The Western Larch trees didn't have any needles and it looked like they were dead, but they are just dormant waiting out the colder weather. And a bit of warm sunshine. Some of the larch trees, or tamaracks, towered over the nearby fir timber, by 40 feet or more. Those huge tamaracks are survivors of past forest fires; the fires of 1910 and other large conflagrations in the 1930's.

I took some pictures at Whitehouse Pond and there was a foot of snow around it but the pond itself was melted. On Sept. 15th, 1805 Private Whitehouse, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, wrote in his journal about this pond, and it bears his name to this day.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, on their way west in 1805, crossed over LoLo pass and traveled down Pack Creek, to the headwaters of the Lochsa River. They left the Lochsa River near the present day Wendover Campground, at a point near Whitehouse Pond and climbed to the north along Wendover Ridge and rejoined the LoLo trail.

Sept 15, 1805: Clark Writes: "...here the road leaves the river to the left and assends a mountain winding in every direction to get up the Steep assents & to pass the emence quantity of falling timber which had falling from dift. causes i e. fire & wind and has deprived the Greater part of the Southerly Sides of this mountain of its gren timber...". "....Several horses Slipped and roled down Steep hills which hurt them verry much. The one which Carried my desk & Small trunk Turned over & roled down a mountain for 40 yards & lodged against a tree, broke the Desk the horse escaped and appeared but little hurt. From this mountain I could observe high ruged mountains in every direction as far as I could See."

There were a couple of pair of ducks on Whitehouse pond and they quickly paddled away from me as I approached to take a picture. A few miles up the road I spotted a small herd of elk, in a meadow near another small pond. That was a rare sight for Lewis and Clark as they saw no elk during the crossing over the Bitterroot Mountains and very few deer. They basically went with little or no food for several days. Other than a few grouse, some thin soup, and a one of their own horses they were forced to kill and eat.

My trip across the Lolo country was easy by comparison. The road is windy and narrow but at least it's paved and there was no ice on the pavement. And it's a beautiful drive. You can drive in 3 or 4 hour what it took the Lewis and Clark over a week, with no crawling over huge logs, climbing steep brush infested mountains or rescuing falling pack horses that have fallen down steep ravines. Or hiking through snow drifts in thin leather moccasins and freezing half to death.

But on the other hand. If I had lived in that era I would have jumped at the chance to join the expedition!