August:  Dillon, MT to Lemhi Pass.  It took me a day and a half to get
 17-20      to Clark Canyon Dam.  There were more sections than usual
                 which I could paddle, until I got to within 10 miles of the
                 dam.  After that I was pulling the kayak all the way through
                 some fairly swift current.  At one point, near Hightower
                 Rock, the current was so strong, the channel so deep, and
                 the water so cold that I had to take the kayak out , strap on
                 the wheels, and pull it up the road for a couple of miles.  The
                 last mile was fairly level, so I was able to paddle up to the
                 dam.
                 At the dam I checked in with the Carrolls, who were working
                 on my portage over Lemhi Pass.  No luck - they couldn’t find
                 anybody.  Not knowing what else to do, I turned my kayak
                 around and paddled back to Dillon, hoping that one of the
                 outfitters there could get my gear across the pass.  It took
                 me less than 5 hours to get to Dillon going downstream, and
                 once there I was able to find a ride to Tendoy, Idaho for my
                 kayak.  I got my gear across the pass, rode back to the
                 dam, and started my hike across the Continental Divide.  By
                 late afternoon I reached a bed and breakfast in Grant, MT,
                 the Prairie Horse Hilton, and spent the night there, then
                 continued on to Lemhi Pass on Sunday.

                 
                   On shore after a long day.

                 The 35 miles from Clark Canyon to Lemhi Pass traverses a
                 high, arid plateau.  Lewis and Clark followed Horse Prairie
                 Creek and Trail Creek through this area and up to the pass. 
                 Most of Prairie Creek goes through private land, much of
                 which is fenced off, so I hiked along Rt. 324, a paved
                 highway which parallels Horse Prairie Creek until the Lemhi
                 Pass road picks up Trail Creek and heads west.  The road to
                 the pass is not paved, and gradually ascends through dry
                 prairie before it winds more steeply through Ponderosa pine
                 forest to the Continental Divide.
                 I camped at the Sacajawea Memorial at the Divide (altitude
                 7373 feet) on Sunday night, right beside the spring that
                 Lewis considered the source of the Missouri.  Like Lewis, I
                 dipped my cup into the spring, took a long drink, and
                 toasted the rivers to my east.  I went to sleep with a mixture
                 of emotions: a tremendous sense of accomplishment at
                 having completed more than 2500 miles of upstream
                 paddling, combined with a certain wistfulness at leaving the
                 Missouri behind and an eager anticipation of heading
                 downstream for the first time in more than 4 months.
                 




                    Click here for days 136 - 144 of Richard's journal