On September 9, 1805, the Corps of Discovery came down the Bitterroot Valley to the mouth of a creek running in from the west, and their guide told them this was where they would leave the river for the mountains. Lewis decided to rest the horses and take celestial readings, and named the stream Travellers Rest. They stayed two nights. Coming home, they camped here again from June 30 to July 3, 1806, and then the captains divided the party: Lewis to cross to the Missouri and explore the Marias, Clark to go up the Bitterroot and down the Yellowstone.
For most of the twentieth century no one knew exactly where the camp had been. The landmark boundary drawn in 1976 covered seven hundred acres at the creek's mouth, about a mile and a half from the real site. In 2002 a team led by the archaeologist Dan Hall dug the ground just south of Lolo Creek and found fire hearths, lead from repairing guns, and a trench latrine whose soil still carried mercury, the residue of the purgative pills Dr. Benjamin Rush had sent with the expedition. In 2006 the Park Service moved the landmark to fit. No other camp on the trail has that kind of proof.
The Salish, Pend d'Oreille and Nimiipuu were camping at this trail junction long before any of it, and the park's programs include Native storytellers. A short trail loops from the visitor center through the cottonwoods along Lolo Creek, on the south edge of Lolo just off US-12.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour