The travelers and their horses climb ‘Cache Mountain’ and recover the cargo left there on 17 June 1806. They notice the snows have melted nearly four feet since then. The Nez Perce guides take them to Greensward Camp, present-day Bald Mountain, where there is grass for their horses. They are joined by another Nez Perce man.
On the Road Again
by Yellowstone Public Radio[1]Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © … Continue reading
Snow Bank on the Lolo Trail
Near the Smoking Place, Lolo Trail, 30 June 2009. © by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Cache Mountain Recovery
we passed by the same rout we had travelled on the 17th inst. to our deposit on the top of the snowey mountain to the N. E. of hungary Creek . . . . we cooked and made a haisty meal of boiled venison and mush of cows [cous] . . . . when we were last here on the 17th [the snow] was then 10 feet 10 inches . . . . it is now generally about 7 feet.
—Meriwether Lewis
Spruce and Blue Grouse
on our way up this mountain about the border of the snowey region we killed 2 of the small black pheasant [blue grouse] and a female of the large dommanicker or speckled pheasant [spruce grouse], the former have 16 fathers in their tail and the latter 20
—Meriwether Lewis
The Northern Nez Perce Trail
we ascended and decended severall lofty and steep hights but keeping on the dividing ridge . . . . late in the evening much to the satisfaction of ourselves and the comfort of our horses we arrived at the desired spot and encamped on the steep side of a mountain convenient to a good spring. here we found an abundance of fine grass for our horses.
—Meriwether Lewis
Beargrass
Xerophyllum tenax
13-mile Camp, Lolo Trail, 1 July 2009. © by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Abundant Beargrass
there is a great abundance of a speceis of bear-grass [beargrass] which grows on every part of these mountains it’s growth is luxouriant and continues green all winter but the horses will not eat it.
—Meriwether Lewis
“party of pleasure”
soon after we had encamped we were overtaken by a Chopunnish [Nez Perce] man who had pursued us with a view to accompany me to the falls of the Missouri. we were now informed that the two young men whom we met on the 21st and detained several days are going on a party of pleasure mearly to the Oote-lash-shoots or as they call them Sha-lees a band of the Tush-she-pah [Salish] nation who reside on Clark’s river in the neighbourhood of traveller’s rest.
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
State of the weather at rise
Wind at State of the weather at 4 P.M. Wind at 4 P.M. cloudy after rain S E fair S E Slight rain in the fore part of the last evening— [Clark: in the snowey region.]
—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[2]To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented and some abbreviations have been spelled out.
Notes
| ↑1 | Originally aired weekdays by Yellowstone Public Radio during the Bicentennial observance of 2003-2006. Narrated by Hal Hansen. Scripts by Whit Hansen and Ed Jacobson. Produced by Leni Holliman. © 2003 by Yellowstone Public Radio. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | To assist the reader of this web page, the date column is not presented and some abbreviations have been spelled out. |
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
This site is provided as a public service by the
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
- Montana Committee for the Humanities
- Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee
- The Capital Gallery (Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation)
- Yellowstone Public Radio
Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).