August 12, Day 142

It was another pleasant, cool morning, and a nice walk between the Bitterroot Mountains and the river.

Trapper Peak was especially impressive, the highest mountain of the range.

I stopped at a restaurant in Darby, with a very cheerful waitress. I had a Taco salad and she filled my water bottles for me.

Now that I had coverage I got caught up on email and talked to an old smokejumper buddy who lives in Missoula. He’ll meet me in a day or two.

I stopped at the grocery store but with occasional cafe meals along this section I didn’t need much to supplement my small food stock. I decided to get some ice cream. I could get a half gallon of the good stuff on sale for less than a pint. I sacrificed and went with the half gallon.

Late in the day I started looking for a good camp spot where I could watch for the Perseid meteor shower. I found a hidden grassy spot between the abandoned railroad next to the river and the half abandoned frontage road I’d been walking. I didn’t set up my tent. Instead I used the bug screen to keep the few mosquitos away until the meteor show started. Colter

Clark: September 7th Satturday 1805 A Cloudy & rainie Day the greater Part of the Day dark & Drisley we proceedd on down the river thro a Vallie passed Several Small Runs on the right & 3 creeks on the left The Vallie from 1 to 2 miles wide the Snow top mountains to our left, open hilley Countrey on the right. Saw 2 horses left by the Indians Those horses were as wild a Elk. One of our hunters Came up this morning without his horse, in the course of the night the horse broke loose & Cleared out—we did not make Camp untill dark, for the want of a good place, one of our hunters did not join us this evening. he haveing killed an elk packed his horses & could not overtake us. 

Trip overview and route map with position updates:

https://bucktrack.com/Lewis_and_Clark_Trail.html