My route closely followed the Blackfoot River and is said to be in a region that is heavily populated by grizzly and black bears. I met a touring cyclist coming in the opposite direction who told me that just yesterday he had encountered a black bear only about 50 feet away in the ditch on the side of the road. The bear stopped and looked at him for a moment before crossing the road in front of him. He had his bear spray out and ready to use if necessary. It was the second time he had encountered a bear this week!
Fortunately, I had no such excitement. The photograph below is from the national forest service’s grizzly bear exhibit near Lincoln.
Lewis and Clark experienced all kinds of difficulties getting through the Rocky Mountains and Bitterroot Mountains on their way to the Pacific ocean. Upon seeing the Rockies they realized that Jeffersons dream of a navigable waterway to the ocean would not be realized. At the foot of the Rocky mountains they met with the Shoshone Indians. Sacagawea, Who had been kidnapped bu the Shoshones by the Hidatsas twhen she was 11, was reunited with her brother, who had become the chief of the Shoshone tribe. that connection, along with her translation ability, helped Lewis and Clark obtain horses and a guide to help them over the mountains.
It was a treacherous journey. They got caught in a heavy snowstorm and The corps of discovery almost starved to death. They ended up having to eat a couple of The horses in order to survive.
The trail I am following tracks the route that Lewis and A subdivision of the coros of discovery took on their return trip across the Rockies.
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