Corps of Discovery: An Expedition on the Lewis and Clark Trail (14 Days) 

     Arrive Great Falls, MT. Transfer on your own to hotel. At 4pm, you will meet with the rest of group for the welcome orientation and "Preparation for the Journey Ahead." After dinner, take an inspiring look at the Mandate given to Meriwether Lewis by President Jefferson - a theme followed throughout your journey. (D)

     After breakfast at the hotel, you will explore some of the portage route used by the Corps of Discovery during its trek around the Great Falls. See one of the spots it is believed the "iron boat" may have been buried, as well as the general location of White Bear Island, where Lewis commented that the roar of rutting buffalo was deafening. Upon leaving the Great Falls area, drive across the high plains of Montana, headed to the confluence of the Marias River with the Missouri River � a crucial spot on the journey. After lunch, explore the restored old Fort Benton and learn of some of the fur trade and trapping history. There are several museums and interpretive centers in the city, as well as restored buildings dating to the mid-19th century, including the elegant Grand Union Hotel built in 1882. A presentation of an "Overview of the Lewis & Clark Journey" rounds out this day and sets the stage for the "journey" ahead. (B,L)

     This morning you will visit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, Mont., the premier showplace for telling the Lewis & Clark story, following breakfast at the hotel. See a life-size diorama depicting a scene of the struggle the men of the Corps endured pulling the canoes up out of the river to portage around the falls. Research information throughout the journey using the journals of Lewis and Clark. The afternoon and evening are yours to enjoy at your leisure. (B,L)

     After breakfast at the hotel, enjoy a boat tour through the Gates of the Mountains, a highlight of your Lewis & Clark experience. See locations of some campsites that were believed to have been used by the members of the Corps. After lunch, the remainder of the afternoon and evening are to be spent at your leisure. (B,L)

     Breakfast will be on your own to explore the local fare. Then visit one of the major sites of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, the headwaters of the Missouri River. Visit this area, walk a trail they could have been on, and eat lunch beside a stream they camped near. After lunch, explore the Headwaters Heritage Museum of Three Forks, which contains thousands of artifacts depicting the area's history. Take a peek also at the reproduction of a dugout canoe similar to what was on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and also used in a television documentary, "The Search for Lewis and Clark." The evening is again yours to enjoy beautiful Helena. (L)

     After breakfast at the hotel, you will drive through the Rocky Mountains to Lewis & Clark Pass for a hike on the "road to the buffalo" just as Lewis did. In this back country setting it is probable that you see wildlife, perhaps deer and elk. After lunch, you will then drive from Lincoln to Missoula along the Blackfoot River, following along Lewis' return route, the knowledge of which he gained from friendly Native Americans. Pass through a wide array of plant and animal communities and see the "prairie of knobs" described by Lewis. Dinner and evening are yours to enjoy. (B,L)

     After breakfast at the hotel, you will visit Travelers' Rest State Park, the location of a centuries-old Native American campsite that Lewis & Clark used in 1805 and 1806.
Travel through the Bitterroot Mountains following the wild and scenic Lochsa River, then the ever-widening Clearwater River. This leg of the journey proved to be one of the most difficult and demanding for the expedition as it ascended to Lolo Summit. After lunch, visit with a Nez Perce, a direct descendent of Red Grizzly Bear, a man mentioned in the Lewis & Clark Journals and learn this part of the story through the eyes of Nez Perce. See from the Nez Perce vantage point how this Historic Park tells the story of a people who have occupied this land since time immemorial, and their role in this nation's development. After dinner at the hotel, the evening is free to explore Clarkston. (B,L,D)

     Take a delightful break and go aboard a jet boat for a 200-mile round-trip tour into the deepest river gorge in North America, Hell's canyon. Intermittent stops at historical point of interest along the way expose numerous geological facts, wildlife and plant life. Breakfast and lunch will both be served on the jet boat. The afternoon and evening are yours to explore. (B,L)

     After breakfast at the hotel, visit the Lewis & Clark Discovery Center with educational displays that include a two-acre outdoor interpretive plaza along the banks of the Snake River. View several campsites, some rustic, just as when the Corps was there and others that have been enhanced for more appreciation of the undertaking, using life-sized silhouette sculptures to do so. After lunch, weave back into the Native American influences on the Expedition, talking with experts at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, an interpretive center for the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Tribes. Dinner is your own choice to explore the local fare. Arrive in Boardman/Pendleton early evening, and have the rest of the evening on your own. (B,L)

     After having breakfast on your own, you'll follow the westbound river route, see Hat Rock, a basalt formation so named by Clark because of its resemblance to a hat. Just below this landmark was the beginning of the fierce Umatilla Rapids, but called Mussel Shell by the Corps, for the great heaps of freshwater mussel shells along the banks. After lunch, explore the Discovery Center in The Dalles. A partnership between several public entities, including the U.S. Forest Service and Wasco County, has created an interpretive center that covers all aspects of the history here, natural, geological and human all in a natural setting overlooking the narrowed Columbia River. Dinner and the remainder of the evening are at your leisure. (L)

     After breakfast on your own, cross the mighty Columbia on the Bridge of the Gods, now an "erector set" bridge but once believed by Native Americans to have been a natural stone bridge connecting the north and south sides of the river. Learn of this legend, then proceed on to the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center, a small but complete explanation of gorge history. A few short miles from the interpretive center, stop to see the site of the Falls of the Cascades, called by Clark "the Shute." Lunch with the group. Approaching the Pacific Ocean, a Lewis & Clark historian specializing in this area of the journey explains the various sites including Yellow Bluffs, which follows Clark's sketch of his walk along the coast on Nov. 18-20, 1805; Cape Disappointment, which provides a spectacular view if weather allows; and then on to Long Beach, the farthest point reached by the Expedition. Step in the Pacific Ocean and see what Clark saw on his land trek! After dinner, an historian weaves together the discoveries and events that made this journey the "fulfillment of The Dream." (L,D)

     After breakfast at the hotel, explore the replica of Fort Clatsop and a museum. Lunch will be at the Benjamin Young House, then followed by a venture to the Astoria Column, a 125-foot-high structure, erected in 1926 atop 600-foot-high Coxcomb Hill, the location of the first permanent American Settlement west of the Rockies. Dinner will be served at the hotel. (B,L,D)

     After breakfast at the hotel, you will transfer on your own to the Portland airport for your return flight home.