After reading "Undaunted Courage," by Stephen Ambrose, I developed this strong feeling that I had to visit the places where Lewis and Clark, and the other members of the Corps of Discovery, traveled in 1805 and 1806 on their way to the west coast. They had an amazing trip from St. Louis, up the Missouri River and finally reaching the area around Astoria, Oregon. After wintering on the west coast they returned to St. Louis following very nearly the same route.

As usual, when Gloria and I want to learn about some subject and to visit an area, we turn to our Elderhostel Catalog. Among the many offerings listed, we selected one sponsored by the Montana Natural History Center in Missoula, Montana. Our friends, Bill and Barbara Weaver, decided to join us. We also wanted to see other parts of Montana, including Glacier National Park, so we added five days on our own, to the six-night Elderhostel.

Tuesday, July 27: we flew out to Spokane, Washington, rented a car and drove to Missoula. One of the surprises was that Montana generally has a 75 mph speed limit and very few people even drive the speed limit. There was also an absence of aggressive drivers that weave in and out of traffic.

Wednesday, July 28: we drove to Great Falls, stopping in Helena for a tour of the city. After leaving Helena, we stopped at a place named by Lewis, "Gates to the Mountains." We took a boat ride from Holter Lake down the Missouri into a gorge with steep cliffs on both sides, stopping at Meriwether Landing to walk around. We viewed a plaque dedicated to the 13 young smokejumpers who died on August 5th, 1949 in the Mann Gulch Fire. Only three survived. Our tour guide told us of a book on the subject, "Young Men and Fire," which I bought when we got to Great Falls. On the tour we saw bald eagles, deer, and antelope. As we left the "Gates" we saw an amazing sight, which none of us had seen before: clouds that were outlined in rainbow colors and one smaller cloud that was completely multi-colored. I'll have to ask my nephew who is a meteorologist on a Philadelphia TV station about that unusual event.

Thursday, July 29: we took a drive along the Missouri River waterfront viewing the Great Falls of the Missouri. We were disappointed since several hydro-electric dams have been put in place and very little water actually goes over the falls. We spent almost the whole day at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center which is a great place. Both Bill and I had Golden Passports, so admission was free for all of us.

Friday, July 30:. we had intended to visit the Charlie Russell museum in the morning, but decided to move on to East Glacier Park, so as to have time to visit Two Medicine Lake, one of the entrances to Glacier Park. One of the naturalists at the Interpretive Center recommended that, on the way to Glacier, we stop by Freeze Out Lake to see the water fowl. We took a dirt road a couple of miles in to the lake and saw all sorts of shorebirds, and literally hundreds of White Pelicans. Bill and Barbara are birders and thoroughly enjoyed that nice surprise. When we arrived at Two Medicine, again the Golden Passport got us in free, and we took a boat ride to the end of the lake and hiked about a mile up to Twin Falls, accompanied by a guide, Nick. I was fascinated watching carpenter ants taking down a tree, little piece by little piece.

Saturday, July 31: this was to be the highlight of the trip, driving through Glacier National Park on Going to the Sun Road. We left early and drove to the St. Mary entrance. Just as we arrived it started to rain, not heavy but steady. We continued up into the park seeing a number of beautiful sights, but having to imagine others because of the rain and low clouds. All the tops of mountains were obscured by clouds. When we arrived at the Visitor Center at Logan Pass, we were able to find the parking lot, but the clouds were so thick we weren't able to see the visitor center. By now it was sleeting and the visitor center was jammed with hikers, cyclists and motorists trying to escape the weather. Although the weather was bad, we did see a number of waterfalls fed by melting permanent snow masses. By the time we drove slowly down from the mountains and reached Lake McDonald the sun was out. We visited the Lodge there and I was fascinated by the large log fire, (walk-in fireplace) and numerous cyclists with their clothing hanging up to dry. After we left the park, we stopped at Bear Park, a large outdoor enclosure where black bears roam freely. We drove through it a couple of times and probably saw 8-10 bears.

Sunday, August 1:. after leaving our motel in Kalispell, we drove along Flathead Lake and encountered hundreds of cyclists. We stopped a couple of times and chatted with a few. There were three hundred in their group on a five hundred mile tour of the region. They were strung out over about 20 miles of highway. Later we stopped at the National Bison Range near Ravilli. We drove through one of the shorter routes and did not see any bison, but did see some short pronged antelope. After we left the range and were driving towards Missoula, we got lucky and saw a herd of bison on the move, probably about 50. We were on a road that passed alongside the Bison Range. We checked into the Elderhostel at the 4Bs Inn and Conference Center at about 3:30 PM.

Monday, August 2: in the morning we visited the Missoula Visitor Center, later stopping at Caras Park. In the afternoon we went to Lolo Pass where Lewis and Clark had such a hard time crossing, nearly starving to death, and having to eat some of their horses. On the way back, we startled a moose crossing the road and we had a good look at him scampering off into the brush. I bought a copy of Undaunted Courage at Lolo Pass and had it date stamped at the Lolo Pass Ranger station. Later that night we had a great talk about Lewis and Clark by Professor Harry Fritz from the University of Montana. Stephen Ambrose referred to him in the acknowledgment section of his book as being a great source of information on Lewis and Clark.

Tuesday, August 3: we took an all-day trip down US 93, visiting Bitterroot National Forest, and having lunch in the Spring Gulch campground. We visited the "real" Travelers Rest which is located on private property, the Deschamps Farm. (Pronounced Dayshaw) We all signed a guest register, the owners were off on a trip to Alaska and our tour leader had a key to the fence. We passed the Montana Log Cabin Company where they cut, assemble, and ship logs all over the UnitedStates. On the way back we had a nice treat, stopped in for Huckleberry Ice Cream Cones, a big scoop for one dollar. In the evening we visited the Farmer's Market, (Huckleberries were six dollars a pound) and later on played cards with the Weavers.

Wednesday, August 4: in the morning we had a lecture on the birds seen by Lewis and Clark, and later a bird-watching walk through Greenough Park. We had the afternoon free and we drove downtown to Caras Park where Gloria and Barb went horseback riding (on a carousel). We walked over to the County Court House and saw eight paintings on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Following that, we took the (free) downtown trolley bus and rode around downtown Missoula. While on the trolley, we met a teen-aged girl whose grandparents are friends of the Deschamps. In the evening we had a PBS film on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Gloria and Barb had had enough Lewis and Clark and went to a nearby movie. The movie was so bad they left and came and watched Lewis and Clark.

Thursday, August 5: in the morning we went out to the Peoples Center near Ronan and had a tour and a talk by a Native American, a member of the Saylish tribe. We had a picnic lunch and then drove over to the National Bison Range where we had an excellent talk by naturalist, Pat Jamison. Lots of questions and answers. We drove the same route we had taken on our own the previous Sunday. We saw 12-15 Prong Horn Antelope and 6-7 Bison. On the way back we stopped and had Huckleberry Shakes. As you can guess, huckleberries are a big item in Montana. After dinner, we went to the University of Montana and had a great talk by Astonomer, Diane Friend, explaining how Lewis and Clark navigated using the sun and the stars.

Friday, August 6: Wayne Phillips gave us a talk and showed slides of the plants described by Lewis on the expedition. Later we drove up to Rattlesnake Creek for lunch and a walk in the woods where he pointed out the plants and described them in detail. In the evening we had a really nice BBQ out at Fort Missoula catered by the restaurant where we usually had our meals. The highlight was a presentation by an actor playing the role of William Clark about 20 years after the expedition. He presented it as if he was reminiscing about the trip and events since then. We left early Saturday morning for the airport at Spokane and home.