Tower Rock State Park
Trailhead at Tower Rock State Park
The Expedition left their canoe camp with eight heavily laden canoes and continued their journey to the Pacific. Three days later they came to the Guardian of the Rockies, The Tower.
Tower Rock marked the end of the prairies with their bountiful food supplies. From his perch near the top of the Tower Lewis saw the vast herds they were leaving. These herds had fed and clothed the Expedition well, but the men could not carry a large supply of that food with them as they continued their journey through the Rockies. The result was surely less than pleasing to think about. The Captains had been warned about the scarcity of food in these mountains while they wintered at Fort Mandan.
The quest for food would be uppermost in the Expedition's mind until they were over the mountains. The physical challenge of the mountains was going to be even more difficult on the short rations they were to be living on. Hopefully life on the Columbia would provide at least adequately.
As the Expedition had worked it way across the prairies they became accustomed to the river and its surrounding lands. These terrific mountains presented many new and difficult challenges; small, fast-flowing rivers the men could barely drag the dugout canoes up; hemmed in by mountains that were almost impassable. The men could not avoid the hard, sharp rocks that were everywhere and cut their feet so badly they could hardly walk.
As Captains Lewis and Clark faced to the west they were determined to lead the Corps of Discovery through these mountains, overcoming the new challenges and successfully finding the Columbia River and on to the Pacific.
Tower Rock marked the end of the prairies with their bountiful food supplies. From his perch near the top of the Tower Lewis saw the vast herds they were leaving. These herds had fed and clothed the Expedition well, but the men could not carry a large supply of that food with them as they continued their journey through the Rockies. The result was surely less than pleasing to think about. The Captains had been warned about the scarcity of food in these mountains while they wintered at Fort Mandan.
The quest for food would be uppermost in the Expedition's mind until they were over the mountains. The physical challenge of the mountains was going to be even more difficult on the short rations they were to be living on. Hopefully life on the Columbia would provide at least adequately.
As the Expedition had worked it way across the prairies they became accustomed to the river and its surrounding lands. These terrific mountains presented many new and difficult challenges; small, fast-flowing rivers the men could barely drag the dugout canoes up; hemmed in by mountains that were almost impassable. The men could not avoid the hard, sharp rocks that were everywhere and cut their feet so badly they could hardly walk.
As Captains Lewis and Clark faced to the west they were determined to lead the Corps of Discovery through these mountains, overcoming the new challenges and successfully finding the Columbia River and on to the Pacific.