When Lewis and Clark led the Corps of Discovery across Montana, they had little idea what they’d find there. They hoped for an easy passage from the upper Missouri River to the Columbia River; they knew they would encounter Native Americans, and in fact were counting on help from the local tribes. They knew they’d see all sorts of unfamiliar flora and fauna, and they were trained to document and preserve these species. But they found geography that was much more convoluted than they’d imagined, Indians who provided more help than they’d thought would be needed, and a richness of plant and animal life that is reflected in almost every journal entry.
Lewis and Clark took five months—from April 25, 1805, to September 10, 1805—to cross Montana, but you’ll probably want to do it in a week or two. And while you may not need to report your discoveries to the president, as Lewis and Clark did, you’ll surely return home with plenty to share with family and friends.
Start, as they did, in the eastern part of the state, along the Missouri River at Fort Union, a fascinating re-creation of an 1840s frontier trading post at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, and head west along Highway 2, following the Missouri to Fort Peck, about 120 miles west of the North Dakota line.
Spend the first night at Fort Peck, with its enormous reservoir, dinosaur museum, and 1930s New Deal architecture, including a well-preserved hotel from the town’s dam-building heyday. West and north of Fort Peck, Highway 2 follows the Milk River, named by Meriwether Lewis for the color of its water.
From Fort Peck to Havre is about 160 miles, then it’s another 50 miles south on Highway 87 to Virgelle, where you’ll rejoin the Missouri and head about 25 miles south to Fort Benton.
A real highlight of a Lewis and Clark pilgrimage is to take a boat trip through the wild and scenic stretch of the Missouri where the corps saw “seens of visionary inchantment.” Road travelers can drive the Missouri Breaks Backcountry Byway.
The great waterfalls of the Missouri meant many days of portaging for the corps members; for travelers, Great Falls, 36 miles southwest of Fort Benton via Highway 87, is the site of the excellent Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center.
From Great Falls, it’s 90 miles south on I-15 to Helena [1]. East of town are the Upper Missouri Lakes, formed by a series of dams. Behind Holter Dam are the “remarkable clifts” that Lewis called Gates of the Mountains, which modern travelers can visit on guided boat tours.
From Helena [1], continue some 66 miles upstream (southeast on Highway 287) through Townsend to Three Forks [2], where the Madison, Jefferson, and Gallatin Rivers merge to form the Missouri. Perched on a bluff at Missouri Headwaters State Park [3], you’ll realize how difficult it was for the explorers to pick the correct stream to follow to the Continental Divide. (It was the Jefferson.)
The easiest way up the Jefferson now is to take I-90 about 30 miles west of Three Forks to Whitehall, then turn south and travel another 30 miles on Highway 41 to Twin Bridges.
About 15 miles southwest of Twin Bridges, on Highway 41, you’ll see Beaverhead Rock, the landform that told Sacagawea that she was near the place where she’d grown up.
Another 15 miles down Highway 41 is Dillon, a good base for exploring this part of the state.
If you want to muddle around in the southwestern corner of the state for as long as the corps did, you really couldn’t find a lovelier place. A trip along southwestern Montana’s back roads (try Highway 324, which joins I-15 about 20 miles south of Dillon) will take you toHorse Prairie Valley, where the corps met a band of Shoshone Indians and their chief, Sacagawea’s brother, and to Lemhi Pass and the Continental Divide.
Of course, it wasn’t a quick trip over the divide and to the Pacific for the Corps of Discovery. They struggled in the mountains here and ultimately headed north down the Bitterroot River to leave the area west of Lolo (present-day Highway 12). As you head north on Highway 93 through the 100-mile-long Bitterroot Valley [4], don’t miss Travelers’ Rest [5], south of Lolo, and the newly discovered corps latrine, which provides rare physical evidence (don’t worry, it’s not that graphic) of the explorers’ visit.
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/montana/butte-helena-and-southwestern-montana/helena
[2] http://www.moon.com/destinations/montana/the-missouri-headwaters-and-south-central-montana/three-forks-and-the-madison-river/three-forks
[3] http://www.moon.com/destinations/montana/the-missouri-headwaters-and-south-central-montana/three-forks-and-the-madison-river-/missouri-headw
[4] http://www.moon.com/destinations/montana/missoula-and-northwestern-montana/the-bitterroot-valley
[5] http://www.moon.com/destinations/montana/missoula-and-northwestern-montana/the-bitterroot-valley/the-lower-bitterroot/travelers-rest