Bitterroot Mountains

On the particular day of this sighting, we had planned a day hike beginning in the town of Wisdom, which is situated on the edge of the Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest.

Our plan was to head southwest along Big Hole River, heading into the forest with the Bitterroot Mountains in full view to our southwest.

We had been hiking for several hours, taking short breaks here and there to take in the and had come into an area of open grass hills which were sporadically patched with clusters of what I believe were firs or spruce trees.

It was so long ago, Bill, that frankly I don't remember, but they were pines nonetheless.

Okay, cool.

So if any of you folks are from Ridgefield and you don't know anything about any Bigfoot activity down there, give us a shout.

And the Bitterroot Mountains, you ever been up that way? Yeah, that's

in Montana.

There were several of them, and I'll just mention a couple of my favorite ones.

One was crossing the Bitterroot Mountains, which is the range within the Rocky Mountains.

Again, they didn't know how long they would be there.

As it turns out, they were on that for several days, weeks, in fact, crossing during a cold period.

You don't really think about work.

When I was out in the mountains, the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho, I didn't think about Instagram.

I didn't think about the scroll.

You think about that tree or that bird or that mountainside or the lake, and then that somehow ties you to the things that are most important.

Now streaming only on Disney+.

We had planned a five-day hike through part of the Bitterroot Mountains in Idaho.

The trail wasn't well-traveled.

We picked it for the solitude, far from campsites or traffic.

Dallas, Denver will be fine.

Intermountain West is going to get rain and mountain snow there up the Bitterroots.

L.A., some clouds at about 68.

So far, all the major hubs this morning looking good.

This was because this party had been friendly to them, had given them presents, been kind to them, and had taken advantage of them in no way.

So also the Flathead Indians, who lived in the Flathead Valley and on the slopes of the Bitterroot Mountains and in the Bitterroot Valley, were friendly.

The Flatheads sold the Americans food, showed them the best trail over the Bitterroot Mountains, and were kind to them.

The Bitterroot Mountains were so called because of the bitter little root with pink flowers which grew all over those mountains.

The explorers called them Savage Mountains because they had such a fearful time crossing them on the trail or off it.

The mountainsides were very steep.

But there was no time for exploring the Oregon country or going up and down the coast, even on land.

It was a long homeward trail up the Columbia River in their canoes, back to the friendly chief who had taken good care of their horses, paying everywhere for fish and game and roots with their beads and paint and knives and ribbons and blankets, and here and there a scarlet-laced coat.

Um, and she, she grew up in that, that part of Idaho.

I guess it was around the, um, uh, the Bitterroot Mountains near the continental-

Mm-hmm

... divide, and the Bitterroots-

I guess you both can come."

Yeah, so, like, we gotta explain why, um, Sacagawea being Shoshone was really important, and it was, like you said, those horses.

N- somehow, I'm not exactly sure how they already knew this because these are the first, um, Americans to chart a course westward, but they knew that the, um, the Missouri River and the Columbia River was, um, w- was separated by mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the Bitterroot Mountains to be specific, and that since they were taking to the river, they were going to need to get from one river to the other, and that the Shoshone Indians happened to live exactly where they needed, um, or where they needed to pass through, where they needed the most help, where they needed horses.

And so having a Shoshone along to help broker a deal would be incredibly useful.

I took down a history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

It stopped in the Bitterroot Mountains in deep snow with the men eating their tallow candles, the Pacific still somewhere ahead of them.

A book about a murdered banker in Memphis stopped one page before the detective took off his hat.

I went along the shelves, pulling them out, laying them open on the mess table back covers up until the table was covered and the nook was half empty.

After some conversation between them, she resumed her seat and attempted to interpret for us, but her new situation seemed to overpower her, and she was frequently interrupted by her tears.

That moment, high in the Bitterroot Mountains, is the official version of the story from the expedition journals of Lewis and Clark, as edited by Nicholas Biddle and published in 1814.

For Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the other men of the Corps of Discovery, this wasn't just a family reunion.

It was a lucky break that meant horses.