We drove along snow-covered mountain ranges in Idaho and the same in Utah. A little snow fell around Salt Lake City but stopped quickly. We caught a quick glimpse of the Great Salt Lake before turning eastward, continuing to see long, long stretches of uninhabited areas with only cattle in sight.

    

Scenic I-80

In Wyoming, we climbed above 8,000 feet on I-80. As in Montana, we saw numerous gates where the interstate highway could be closed due to inclement weather. Signs were posted indicating “I-80 closed 1 mile ahead if lights are flashing. Return to Laramie. Violaters will be prosecuted.”

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We've seen many miles of rail lines and roads paralleling rivers.

Snow-covered vistas at the high altitudes were spectacular. We were surprised to see cattle and even buffalo herds so high. As we neared Cheyenne, the snow began to fall in earnest. Along I-25 south toward Denver, we began seeing large herds of antelope near the roadside.

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So much snow and it's only October

Approaching Denver, our destination for the night, driving proved to be hazardous. Snow plows were following rush hour traffic northbound, and the southbound lanes didn’t seem to be getting much attention. In addition, the snow was falling pretty heavily. Just north of Fort Collins (60 miles north of Denver), we began to see more and more accidents, and traffic slowed to a crawl.

Safely in for the evening, we watched as snow continued to fall.

The highway was almost completely covered with snow, and darkness conspired with the snow cover to reduce visibility to the point that we decided it best to find shelter for the night. We found a hotel, prepared dinner and watched another six inches of snow fall from our hotel window.

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Although we still had sunshine for a while, the clouds ahead promised snow, and eventually it began to fall.  About the time the snow began, we reached road conditions with more snow as the sun wasn’t melting it.  Just after the snow began falling, we reached the summit of the Blue Mountains at 4,193 feet.  The temperature had fallen to 18°.

Is this our exit?

By the time we returned to the lower elevations near the town of LaGrande, snow was not in evidence on the ground and was not falling.  The temperature rose quickly.   Our goal today was to log miles, no sights to see, just moving back east.

Losing an hour when we returned to the Mountain time zone, we checked into a hotel in Twin Falls, Idaho in the early evening.  After dinner in the room, we fell into bed pretty tired after a 662-mile day.

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Today was our last day headed westward,  and we got our earliest start.  As we traveled a few miles outside Pasco-Kennewick, there was not a tree to be seen, just rolling hills of nothing and a few cultivated fields of corn and hay.  The fields are round to facilitate use of a circular irrigation system.
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Along I-84 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, we drove between semi-arid short grass-covered hills and the river.  With WA-14 running on the Washington side of the river, it was almost like looking into an oversized mirror.  The river was very wide and looked quite deep—a serious body of water.  We saw a tugboat pushing two barges of grain and one of timber westward.  The dam at The Dalles, OR, was an amazing structure, accomplishing the impossible by taming this great river.
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The Dalles Dam, OR

We stopped briefly at the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center in Stevenson and enjoyed strolling around the grounds, but we didn’t take time to view the museum as it doesn’t have a Lewis and Clark focus.  We actually saw a rabbit run into a briar patch to hide near a wild apple tree.
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Like so many places we’ve been on this trip, the railroad, the river, and the road traveled along together.  We dodged Portland by taking the I-205 perimeter around the city and arrived in Astoria around 3:45 p.m., heading straight for the Fort Clatsop museum and reconstruction.  The buildings were very rustic by today’s standards but the captains and other members of the corps must have found the accommodations almost luxurious after their experiences roughing it to that point.

Fort Clatsop

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In 1805-06, Lewis and Clark wintered at Fort Clatsop after their trail-blazing journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.  While at the fort, they prepared organized accouints of the scientific data they had been collecting, reworked their journals, and prepared for the return trip.
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At the Pacific, At Last

After Clatsop, we drove on to see the Pacific Ocean at Warrenton, and what a thrill to finally see that view.  The obvious power of the Pacific was quite a contrast to the Atlantic.  A great spray shoots up where the waves break and the line where the water reaches when the wave comes to shore changes rapidly and dramatically.
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Iredale Shipwreck

Like so many before and after us, we checked out the skeletal ruins of the Peter Iredale, a a four-masted steel ship that set out from Mexico in 1906, bound for Portland, Oregon.   As the legend goes, a dark and stormy night slammed the Iredale into the shore and joined ranks with the dozens of other ships that have wrecked along this portion of the northern Oregon coast.
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After finding a hotel room in Astoria, we toasted our arrival at the Pacific with a glass of wine, had dinner in the room, and, like Lewis and Clark, reviewed our return trip plans.
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Miles Today:  374
States Today:  2 (WA, OR)

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The Lolo Trail was different from other east-west 19th century American trails.  It did not witness a flood of cross-country migration like the Oregon Trail.  There were no covered wagons here.  Unmapped and shifting over time, the Lolo Trail penetrated such formidable terrain that it was passable only with the aid of someone who had traveled it before or with a knowledge passed from one generation to the next.

    

Long before the Lolo became a route for explorers, it was an American Indian trail.  Lewis and Clark would have been lost on the trail without the aid of their Native guides.  On June 27, 1806, Clark wrote in his journal:  "...Stupendous mountains principally covered with snow like that on which we stood; we are entirely surrounded by those mountains from which to one unacquainted with them it would have seemed impossible ever to have escaped..."
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Snow-covered Bitterroot Mountains

As we climbed up toward Lolo Pass, there was more and then much more snow along the roadside, especially at the highest elevation (5,233 feet).  The visitor center at the top was closed for the season.
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Visitor center entrance road

Going down into Idaho, the light snowfall changed over to rain.  There was still plenty of snow by the roadside and on the mountains as well as patches of slush on the road.  The rain, thankfully, was very light.  We have certainly been thankful to be in a vehicle with AWD (all-wheel drive) today; it has served us very well.
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We have seen several large osprey nests balanced at the tops of tall dead trees along the roadside today.  Autumn was making its presence known in the stunning yellow, gold and orange leaf colors.  Like yesterday, we found the scenery in Idaho breathtakingly beautiful.  One gorgeous vista follows another around the next curve in the road.
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The Continental Divide was very evident today when we saw a river in Montana flowing in one direction and another in Idaho flowing in the opposite direction.  Shortly after passing into Idaho, we came upon the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove.  Named for historian and conservationist, Bernard DeVoto, whose works include edited versions of the Lewis and Clark journals, the old growth cedar forest was here long before the historian or the explorers.  Some older trees in the forest are estimated to be more than 2,000 years old.
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Dwarfed by ancient trees in the DeVoto grove

As we descended down the mountains, the road was equipped with "slow vehicle turnouts."  Signs indicated that if three or more vehicles accumulate behind your car, you are obligated to use the turnout to allow them to pass.
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Great strategy with gawking tourists & locals using the same road

The Lochsa River was our roadside guide down the Lolo Trail as US-12 parallels its path.  At the Idaho border, we passed into Pacific Time and gained an hour.  Near Kooskia, the river grew much wider but remained quite shallow.  Leaving Kooskia we picked up the Clearwater River, Lewis and Clark's passage to the Snake and Columbia.
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Lochsa River, Clearwater National Forest

We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Canoe Camp on the river near Orofino and the nearby Nez Perce National Historic Park visitor center at Spalding.  Both had excellent exhibits. After all the gorgeous scenery, we left Idaho only reluctantly.  Appropriately for this trip, we drove from Lewiston, ID, to Clarkston, WA, on US-12.
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The dun-colored Palouse Hills near Clarkston, WA

Because of state budget problems, Lyons Ferry State Park, our first Washington destination, was closed when we arrived.  We parked outside the gate and walked in to have a look at the Palouse River.  Walking in the grass, we noticed an unusual amount of unidentified animal scat.  Ken suspected Canada geese, and sure enough as we walked a bit further we spotted a large flock of these immigrants out for a stroll.  According to the sign, the park closed on October 1, and apparently the geese have taken over since then.
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Next on our agenda was Palouse Falls State Park near Lyons Ferry, where we saw the Palouse River drop 198 feet over the cliffs of Lower Palouse Canyon.  Leaving the park, we enjoyed a lengthy beautiful Washington sunset before arriving at Richland for the night.
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Palouse Falls

Miles Today:  380
States Today:  3 (MT, ID, WA)

Camas Prairie, Washington

Palouse River Canyon

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At an elevation of 7,323 feet, Lemhi Pass is a rounded saddle in the Beaverhead Mountains of the Bitterroot Range along the Continental Divide between Montana and Idaho.  There, in 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition first saw the headwaters of the Columbia River, flowing toward the Pacific Ocean, and crossed what was then the western boundary of the United States.
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Clark Canyon Reservoir

Driving south on I-15, we saw very little traffic on this Sunday morning.  By the time we arrived at the Clark Canyon Reservoir about 10:30, the sun had warmed the temperature considerably.  From the reservoir, we headed west on MT-324 toward the Lemhi Pass.  Replete with several winters' worth of patches, this state road didn't have the smoothest surface.  As we would later learn, however, it was one we would wish for in a couple of hours.
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Ten miles or so outside the tiny town of Grant, MT, we turned onto the Lemhi Pass Road, a dirt and gravel trail leading through a number of large private ranches.  Since many ranchers don't keep their herds fenced, we passed over many cattle gaps.
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From the highway equipment we saw parked on the roadside at various spots and the condition of the road, we could see that Montana officials really try to keep this road in good condition.  On some portions, it was so smooth we were able to drive 50 miles per hour.

Lemhi Pass Road

We reached the pass a little after 11 a.m.  The views were spectacular.  If we hadn't already met several vehicles carrying hunters on the way up, we would have been more surprised to find a camper and pick-up truck parked in the woods at the pass.  Big game hunting season opened today, and we saw many hunters (though no game) before the day was over.  
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The landscape at Lemhi Pass today looks very much like it did when the Corps of Discovery passed through.  Fields of native sagebrush and bunch grasses are edged with Douglas fir and lodge pole pines.  
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The trip down to Idaho was a totally different experience from the climb in Montana.  At the top, we had to choose between two roads.  The more direct route, according to our information, was very steep.  We were concerned about traction on this gravel road, and based on our trip up, we didn't expect any guardrails.
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So we chose the Lewis and Clark Backcountry Byway/Adventure Road, although we didn't know it was called that until we reached the other end some two hours later.  The road quickly came to a fork after we'd gone about a half mile.  With no signs to guide our selection, we chose what we later realized was the wrong road.  A Montana sign for hunters let us know we had gone back into that state.
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Backcountry Byway

Returning to what we thought was probably the correct road, we found abysmal road conditions.  To describe this as a gravel road would give a new definition to the term.  Many stretches were more aptly described as rock-strewn.  In some parts, the sun had yet to penetrate the tree cover enough to melt the previous week's snowfall.  On other sections, the rocks were so big and so sharp that we very concerned about tire punctures.
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The lack of cell service, our uncertainty about whether we were on the correct primitive road, and the knowledge that we had only a "temporary spare" which might not fare well on that road, combined to create a somewhat harrowing adventure— one of those experiences that was much more exciting and "fun" after it was over.
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Ken at Snake River

We got into Missoula and into a hotel about 5 p.m., finally an early evening.  We even had time to watch the Atlanta Falcons' victory over the Saints and saw Anaheim defeat the Giants in game 7 of the World Series.
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Miles today:  304
States today:  2 (MT, ID)
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SUNDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2002

Lewis & Clark still pointing the way

At the scenic Salmon River

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Unlike the treeless plains we traveled through in the Dakotas yesterday, this stretch of Montana had quite a lot of trees.  Autumn has pretty much passed through here, and most of the trees were bare.
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Our first stop was Pompey's Pillar (pictured above), a sandstone butte near Billings, a well-known landmark to the Plains Indians.  At this strategic natural crossing of the Yellowstone, Native people met to trade and exchange information long before Lewis and Clark came this way.  In addition to their journal entries about the area, Clark left lasting evidence of his visit here on their return trip East.
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I-94 led into I-90 at Billings, where we saw a couple of refineries near the highway as well as a huge crowd at the Billings Livestock Commission for a horse sale.  We estimated more than 200 trucks with horse trailers parked in the lot.
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Along I-90 we passed several mountain ranges with the Yellowstone River and a well-used railroad line paralleling the highway.  The scenery has been spectacular and widely varied.  After such a cold morning, the sun has worked overtime to produce such a warm day.
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At the Missouri Headwaters State Park at Three Forks, MT, we visited the spot where three small rivers join to form the Missouri.  These little rivers were named by Lewis:  Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin.  Those names are also seen in county names in the area.
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At the Missouri headwater, we launched two driftwood logs down the river.  One kept getting snagged on the rocky bottom of this shallow river, but we threw rocks and dislodged it several times until the current caught it and sent it moving at a good clip.  These two "pirogues" are on their way, and we hope to see them again at Hartford or perhaps New Orleans on our way back home.
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Outside Butte, we drove through the Tobacco Root Mountains, which are covered with huge boulders.  Talk about waiting for the other shoe.  It was frighteningly awesome.  We have seen so many mountain ranges in Montana, and all seem to have such different topology and geology.  After successfully navigating through the Tobacco Roots, we settled into Butte for the night.
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Miles today:  465
States today:  1 (MT)

at Missouri Headwaters State Park

at Missouri Headwaters State Park

Yellowstone River at Pompey's Pillar

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The Avenue of Flags was initially established as part of the celebration of the United States' Bicentennial in 1976 at the request of a visitor. The 56 flags represent the 50 states, one district, three territories, and two commonwealths of the United States of America.
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Mount Rushmore's carving was just as impressive as we have always heard— a tremendous engineering feat.  At the museum, we learned that before tackling Rushmore, the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, conceived the original concept and design for the Confederate memorial carving on Atlanta's Stone Mountain, beginning work in 1916.
Among his greatest challenges were how to position workers on the cliff and how to remove large amounts of granite.  Borglum solved these problems by developing a sling chair to suspend workers from the mountain top and by using dynamite to remove stone.  Although a disagreement with the Stone Mountain Commission ended his involvement with that project, both solutions were implemented and refined at Mount Rushmore.
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With more than two million visitors annually, Mount Rushmore must be jammed at the height of the summer vacation season.  The Rapid City area could hold its own with Chattanooga in terms of billboards advertising tourist attractions— reptile ranch, bear country, presidential alpine slide, and on and on.  Water slides appear to be quite popular.
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Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway

Leaving Rushmore, we traveled along the twisting Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.  With all its pigtail bridges, one-lane tunnels and hairpin turns, it took us 30 minutes to cover the ten miles to Custer State Park.  Despite our hopes of seeing large numbers of buffalo in the park, we saw only a few in a corral and maybe a dozen others quite a distance from the road.  The remainder of the 1,500-member herd seemed to be in hiding.
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Mule deer at Custer State Park

We did see lots of mule deer and white-tail deer, a few wild turkeys, and a very active prairie dog town.  Two cats were in the horse stable area where we stopped for a picnic lunch.  The younger one was very friendly, but the mother wouldn't approach us.  Like so many other facilities we have encountered, the stables had closed for the season.
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As we left Custer, we entered the heart of the Black Hills National Forest, winding back and forth, up and down through the evergreen-covered mountains.  All the twisting and turning left both of us a little woozy by the time we wound our way through the corner of Wyoming and back into South Dakota at the towns of Lead and Deadwood. 
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Red Butte near Four Corners, Wyoming

Along the way in Wyoming, we came across the beautiful Red Butte near the town of Four Corners.  Its rusty color provided a nice contrast to the black hills of South Dakota.
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From Deadwood we continued north on US-85.  The landscape changed rather abruptly from towns built on the sides of mountains to an area of low grassy hills and hummocks and arrow straight roads.  We checked the odometer at one point and determined that you could see a ten-mile stretch before the highway changed direction or elevation.
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The endless straight line that is US-85

Running along the side of the road were huge ranches. In addition to thousands of head of cattle, we also observed herds of deer grazing in the pastures.  Several of these herds numbered in the 30s and one must have had 75.  Snow had melted along this stretch with only an occasional patch dotting the tan landscape.  We drove for very long distances without seeing anything but fences, cattle and deer—often not even any power lines or side roads.  Trees and shrubs were nonexistent here.  When we finally did pass a side road, it often had a sign with mileage to the local residents' houses—e.g., Sam Rogers, 26.8 miles; Bill Jones, 24.3 miles, etc.
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Security in Bowman, ND

Towns were very few and far between, and the small towns we passed through seemed all but deserted late on this Friday evening.  Population numbers on town signs indicated several hundred, but we weren't encountering any of them.  When we stopped in Bowman, ND, to change drivers, we pulled into the parking lot of a general store.  A vintage police car was parked nearby, and Ken was concerned when I turned the car around so that the headlights were shining directly into the police car.  We thought it odd that the driver in his cowboy hat didn't turn his head until we realized it was a mannequin.  On closer observation, we surmised that the car with its red bubble light on the roof probably hadn't even cranked for the last 20 or so years.  Even Barney Fife wasn't that big a dummy!
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By the time we were in North Dakota, night had fallen.  Between the two small towns we passed through on an 80-mile stretch of US Highway 85, we drove through deep darkness.  Other than stars and an occasional car, the darkness was rarely interrupted.   A couple of times we saw lights a mile or two off the highway and guessed that a farmhouse might be there.  Even after we got onto I-94, the exits we passed were much the same, some with "No Services" signs posted.  Traffic was very light.
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Finally about 9 p.m. we found a room for the night in Glendive, MT, the first town of any size along I-94 after entering the state.  Exhausted, we made a quick sandwich and were soon in bed for the night.
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Miles today:  487
States today:  4 (SD, WY, ND, MT)