Lewis and Clark Trail History

The Lolo Trail

Here's a map of a section of the Montana-Idaho border (you can zoom in and out). If you'll start from the town of Missoula, MT, you can see a road leading out of that town towards the south-west. That road is U.S. Highway 12, and it crosses the border and continues into Idaho along the route by which the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed the Bitteroot Mountains.

The Lolo Trail has changed little since that time. The Nez Perce Indians used to traverse the trail annually as they passed along the Clearwater River in north-central Idaho to their buffalo hunting grounds in Montana. During the Nez Perce War of 1877, the non-treaty faction of the tribe followed the route in its retreat from Idaho to Montana. The trail is sometimes known as the Nez Perce Buffalo Road for that reason, though it was only the main branch of the road.

A Shoshone who they called "Old Toby" guided them through the Bitterroots during eleven agonizing days in September, 1805. On that forced march they battled deep snow, hunger and dangerous mountain terrain, had to hack their way through dense underbrush and around fallen timber, and were reduced to eating a few of their colts in order to survive.

What is called the Lolo Trail today is a narrow, twisting fire-access road constructed by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1930's that generally follows the historic trail. Blocked by snow except for parts of July and during August, the road is ordinarily suitable only for trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles, with many of the Lewis and Clark sites that lie off the road reachable only on foot or horseback.

The eastern part of the route is in Lolo National Forest, Idaho-Montana, and the middle and western parts are in Clearwater National Forest, Idaho. If you follow U.S. Highway 12 along the historic trail you might want to stay over at the Lolo Hot Springs resort, and to visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Lolo Pass Visitor Center.