Homeward Bound on a Risky Shortcut

Lewis described this confluence on July 4, 1806. His Nez Perce guides had turned back that morning, sure the Pahkees, by which Lewis understood the Minnetares, would cut his party off; they sliced the meat he had given them and set it to dry for their own trip home. Lewis crossed five miles of plain, then followed the river five more through a narrow pass on its north side to the mouth of the Cokahlahishkit, sixty yards wide, deep and rapid. The main river below was a hundred yards across, and both ran turbid. He camped eight miles up.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• A Carousel for Missoula — 5.3 mi
  A cabinetmaker's promise to the city council: give it a home, and he would carve the horses.
• Fort Missoula — 8.7 mi
  An 1877 Army post that held Italian seamen and Japanese immigrant men behind its fence in World War II.
• Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center — 10 mi
  The base of the crews descended from the first two men ever to parachute onto a forest fire.
• Travelers' Rest State Park — 13 mi
  The one Lewis and Clark campsite with proof in the ground: hearths, gun lead and a latrine still laced with mercury.

More markers nearby

• Many Cultures Forged Strong Communities — steps away
• Brave New World — steps away
• Twilight of an Era — steps away
• The Lolo Trail — 12 mi