It’s June 2017 and the Lunch Box is back on the road! Recovery from prostate cancer surgery has progressed to the point that the doctor has released me to travel for a bit before returning home in July for further treatment. The last seven months have been challenging, both with personal medical issues and the passing of my long-time traveling companion, Augie the doggie. As I hit the road now a new buddy has joined the adventure. Joey is a Corgi mix and just a pup so dealing with his apparently boundless energy adds a new facet to my travels. I took this picture on the first day he came home at 3 months old.
A hint of what is to come happened the first morning on the road when Joey (now six months old) decided to “read” the morning paper while I ran into a store for a moment… Let the fun begin!
Billings, MT to Clarkston, WA (I-94 to Missoula, Hwy 93 south to Lolo US 12 to Clarkston)
As the eyes of Europe turned west towards the Americas one of the most elusive goals was the desire to find the fabled “Northwest Passage”, a direct sea route from Europe to Asia. By 1800 it was generally understood that such a water passage through North America did not exist. However, as the French and English colonized the eastern coast of North America and the Spanish, Russians and English did the same on the west coast the desire for a land version of the Northwest Passage between the two coasts grew. In May 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition left St. Louis and headed northwest in search of a practical land passage to the Oregon Country. Their route followed the Missouri River up into present-day Montana and, with the assistance of local Native Americans, crossed over from the Missouri watershed to the Columbia watershed via Lemhi Pass into the Bitterroot Valley. On September 9-11, the expedition rested at Travelers Roost at the foot of Lolo Pass and prepared to cross the last, most difficult mountain pass west into the heart of the current state of Idaho. Our journey begins at the mouth of the Bitterroot Valley where the Bitterroot River runs into the Clark’s Fork River, current site of the town of Missoula, Mt. After a quick dash up I-94 from Billings, Joey and I stop in Missoula to get ready to cross the mountains.
Missoula, MT
The first European settlement in the Missoula area was the Hellgate Trading Post, founded in 1860. Six years later the settlement moved five miles up the river and was named the Missoula Mills, after sawmills in the area. In 1877 Fort Missoula was established and in 1883 the Northern Pacific railroad came to town, guaranteeing the economic future of the area by providing east access to the timber riches of western Montana. The final piece in the building the foundation of the Missoula area was the establishment of the University of Montana in 1893. While the economic engine of the area was the timber industry for over 100 years, the decline of the timber companies in the 1970’s corresponded with a diversification of the economy and the underlying stability of the university and medical community has helped the area maintain a vibrant economy. Certainly the downtown area is alive and well, full of shops, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. despite the larger stores fleeing to the mall at the south end of town and the big box stores out west on Reserve Street.
The queen of the downtown area is the Missoula County Courthouse, built in 1908 and designed by Missoula’s premier architect of the age, A.J. Gibson (who also designed five of the original buildings on the University of Montana campus).
Downtown Missoula is tucked away between the railroad tracks to the north and the Clark Fork River to the south. Anchoring the north end of Higgins, the main street, is the historic Northern Pacific Railroad Train depot, built in 1901.
The view in front of the depot reaches to the south as Higgins turns into Hwy 93, running down the Bitterroot Valley towards southern Idaho.
Across the river from the downtown area to the southeast, sitting at the bottom of Mt. Sentinel, lies the University of Montana.
University of Montana
The U of M is the flagship liberal arts university in Montana with nationally renowned schools of law, journalism, and education. (The counterpart is Montana State University in Bozeman – Oregonians think U of O and OSU, very much the same) The university began holding classes in 1893 in temporary quarters as the campus was designed and the first buildings constructed. University Hall, designed by A.J. Gibson, opened in 1898 and remains the iconic symbol of the university.
University Hall sits at the eastern edge of a three acre oval plaza that forms the planned center of the university. All major buildings were planned to be sited around the oval, but practical considerations precluded the original plan from being implemented. In this view looking north from the center of the oval towards the Clark Fork River, I can see (from nearest to farthest) Rankin Hall (1909), Anderson Hall (2007), and the Social Sciences Building (1921).
And, of course, no visit, however brief, to the University of Montana would be complete without a walk by that holy of holies, Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Construction at the south end of the stadium precludes from getting pictures with the reverence with which Grizzly fans hold towards this site…
At the opposite side of town to the west sits another jewel of the area, Fort Missoula
Fort Missoula
Fort Missoula was established in 1877 and was another of the “open forts” of the west, forts without a surrounding wall. Little remains of the original fort as the fort grounds were totally revised and new buildings constructed around 1910, most of which are still standing today. During World War II it served as a detention camp for Italians (non-military men from merchant and luxury liner ships seized at the beginning of the war) and later the addition of Japanese-American internees. The fort was decommissioned in 1947 and most of the smaller buildings were destroyed. The larger buildings continued to be used by public agencies including the Forest Service, BLM, Northern Rockies Heritage Center, and Missoula County.
The fort grounds resemble a giant “D” with the parade ground in the center of the “D”. To the west of the vertical line of the “D” lie the remaining buildings from the pre-1910 remodel. The NCO house, a duplex providing housing for noncommissioned officers and other personnel, was built in 1878 and used until 1947. The small Carriage House to the left was used to store buggies and equipment for the inhabitants of the duplex.
West lies the 1911 brick Quartermaster’s Storehouse (1911) and the Quartermaster’s Root Cellar (1908). The root cellar provided cool storage for perishables like fruits and vegetables, and the metal vents on the top allowed air to circulate.
Walking east to the vertical line of the “D” the first buildings on the west side of the parade grounds are the 1940 Post Headquarters (currently used by the Forest Service) and to the right the 1906 Post Headquarters.
Stepping to the right of the 1906 headquarters I look across the parade ground to the curve of the “D”, officers’ quarters on the left and barracks behind the trees to the right. The trees provided welcome shade from the blistering afternoon sun in those “pre-air conditioning” days.
The buildings, built during the 1910 remodel of the fort, are white stucco with red tile roofs. Here’s a view looking down officer’s row.
The barracks housed 170 men and it was hard to get a good picture of them given the size of the building and the intrusion of the large trees on the view.
To the south sits the fort hospital, now the Western Montana Regional Community Health Center.
About 10 miles of Missoula at the junction of Hwy 93 and US 12 sits the small town of Lolo. A quick turn to the west on US 12 and the Lunch Box is on the trail of Lewis and Clark. The mountains are cloaked with thick forest and the road ahead disappears into the foothills.
A turn reveals a rare glimpse of the snow-capped peaks in the distance.
Thirty miles later the highway has climbed up to Lolo Pass and then descends quickly down into the canyon of the Lochsa River. When the Lewis and Clark expedition descended into the canyon they were in desperate condition, reduced to eating their horses and candles. The current highway is in very poor condition as it twists and turns down the steep sides of Lochsa Canyon. It takes all of my attention to drive so there are no pictures of the descent. US 12 is not heavily traveled, most traffic prefers to cross the mountains via I-94 over Lookout Pass to the north. Once over the pass and down along the Lochsa there is a stretch of over 90 miles through dense forest twisting and turning along the banks of the rushing Lochsa River with absolutely no services, including cell phone service.
It’s a beautiful drive as the river grows, swollen with the spring run-off. The canyon is narrow with the highway hugging the north bank of the river.
At Lowell the Lochsa from the northwest merges with the Selway from the southeast to form the Clearwater River. Near here Lewis and Clark found local Native Americans, the Nez Perce, who aided them as they passed down the river. Lewis and Clark left some horses and a cache of supplies for the return trip while building five dugout canoes for the remaining water voyage to the ocean via the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia Rivers. As the Clearwater nears its junction with the larger Snake River, the bare hills and basalt cliffs appear which are characteristic of the area impacted by the pre-historic Missoula Floods. Forty times during the last Ice Age ice dams built in the mountains of northwestern Montana and periodically broke, sending devastating floods through eastern Washington and down the Columbia River gorge. The floods scoured the land, creating canyons instantly rather than through the much more common process of erosion. Given the volcanic history of the area, the basalt cliffs are found along many of the canyons in western Idaho and eastern Washington.
The highway emerges from the canyon of the Clearwater River near the point where the Clearwater empties into the Snake River. The twin towns of Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, WA, straddle the Snake River at the confluence.
The Confluence
The point where the Clearwater and Snake Rivers combine had been occupied by Native American for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European fur trappers in the late 1700’s. Today the town of Lewiston, Idaho lies on the eastern bank of the Snake with the historic downtown area just east of the point along the Clearwater. On the western bank of the Snake is the smaller town of Clarkston, WA. A spectacular view of the area can be found high above the area on top of Lewiston Hill, which dominates the northern side of the rivers. In 1917 Hwy 95 was built up the Lewiston Grade in a series of steep switchbacks that allowed vehicles to climb up out of the river valley at speeds around 20 mph. More recently Hwy 95 was relocated to the east and now climbs out of the valley at a gentler grade with fewer turns (though still at 6-7%). At the top of the hill a scenic viewpoint gives a panoramic view of the area to the south. Lewiston is to the left, Clarkston to the right. The mouth of the famed Hells Canyon of the Snake River is to the south and the Snake emerges from the canyon directly in front of us. The Clearwater is coming in from the left.
In 1812 Donald McKenzie set up a fur trading post near here. The presence of the settlers increased substantially with the discovery of gold at Pierce in the interior of Idaho and Lewiston was actually established as the site of the first capital of Idaho Territory and home to the first Idaho Territorial Legislature in 1863. At that time the Idaho Territory was huge, containing present-day Idaho, Montana and most of Wyoming. A year later Montana and Wyoming were separated from Idaho and the Idaho governor moved the capital south to Boise. The first steamboat reached Lewiston in 1861 and in modern times the area has regained its’ function as a river port via the completion of a series of dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Lewiston-Clarkston is actually a seaport and massive barges are loaded with grain from the area and shipped down river to the world. The RV Park where I stayed in Clarkston is by the east end of the blue bridge over the Snake right on the water. I took this picture while walking Joey along the river. The Snake River is on my right, the railroad bridge in the distance crosses the Clearwater River. The large buildings across the Snake on the right anchor the historic downtown area of Lewiston.
The Lewiston-Clarkston area is not a tourist destination for those looking for trendy restored historic downtown areas, etc. Tourists coming to this area generally are coming for one reason, to experience the outdoors. This is a stepping off area for expeditions into the rugged mountains and rivers of central Idaho.
Southeastern Washington
Southeastern Washington is generally defined by the Snake River Canyon as the river flows west to the Columbia. North of the river stretches the land known as the “Palouse”, an area of eastern Washington and western Idaho characterized by rolling hills slashed by narrow canyons laid bare by the Missoula Floods. South of the Snake is the area where the Palouse transitions to the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Our journey takes us along US 12 leads to our next stop, the Walla Walla River Valley.
At first the highway follows along the Snake River, now really a series of lakes filling the Snake River Canyon behind dams.
The rugged canyon heads off to the northwest while US 12 heads southwest through canyons carved by the Missoula Floods and this time a year a verdant landscape of emerald hues.
Occasionally the highway climbs up and we get a glimpse of the fields that stretch north over the Palouse.
A brief detour off US 12 to the north takes us to Palouse Falls, where the Palouse River falls into a canyon on its’ way to join the Snake. The view on the way to the falls runs north across the Palouse.
A gash in the landscape defines the Palouse Canyon and a quick descent takes me to Palouse Falls State Park. At the end of a gravel road two miles from pavement, you definitely have to search this one out!
Backtracking to US 12 the road takes us west again to the Walla Walla Valley. An afternoon thunderstorm looms above the Blue Mountains to the southwest just before we come out onto the valley floor where our next destination, the city of Walla Walla, awaits.
Next up: The Walla Walla River Valley
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