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We left Portland on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. We had decided to skip a trip to Seattle and instead head for Montana, a state we both love. We were hoping to spend a couple weeks up there but knew that it was getting late in the season so we hurried east.

Since we couldn’t drive the entire 600 miles in one shot we picked Clarkston, Washington, as our stopover place. At over 330 miles from Portland, it was a longer trip than we usually attempt but we knew we were racing the weather. It was a gorgeous drive as we followed the Columbia River for about 200 miles before turning north through the agricultural fields by Walla Walla, Washington, home of the mild, Walla Walla sweet onions.

Monday morning we checked into Hillview RV Park on Bridge St. in Clarkston. Even though we were eager to get to Montana, we still had to work. So we hooked up and logged on.

Clarkston is located at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. To the Nez Perce (pronounced “nezz purse”), who used to live here, the area was known as Tsceminicum meaning meeting of the waters.

The Snake River takes many odd turns on its journey from where it originates in Yellowstone National Park to where it joins the Columbia River. For much of its length it forms the border between Idaho and Oregon in the south and Idaho and Washington in the north. At Clarkston, the Snake takes a hard left, turning west, and delineates the northern edge of town.

From Clarkston you can look across the Snake to Lewiston, Idaho. Lewiston is the larger of the two cities with over 30,000 residents. Its claims to fame are that it is the “furthest inland seaport in the United States” and the only one in Idaho. The ports of both cities are busy but see different kinds of traffic. The port of Lewiston handles large container shipping of grain, lumber, logs and paper products, mostly outgoing materials. The port of Clarkston does some large shipping as well but sees more tourist-related business such as cruise ships, jet boat and river float trip operations. We spent a nice afternoon marveling over the Queen of the West paddlewheeler while she was docked.

Shipments leaving either port travel the Snake River to Pasco, Washington, where it joins the Columbia River. The shipments then follow the Columbia to either Portland or the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon. The route sounds circuitous but I read somewhere that it is the cheapest way to move cargo.

Some of you may have already figured out that the neighboring towns are named after the captains of the Corps of Discovery. Lewiston was known as Ragtown in the early years since all the structures were hastily erected tents. In 1861 the town was incorporated and officially named in honor of Capt. Meriwether Lewis. Clarkston was a bit slower to honor Capt. William Clark and was known as Jawbone Flats until the town was officially renamed in 1902. Both cities have monuments commemorating the two trips (out and back) of the Corps through the area.

The Lewis and Clark expedition camped across the Snake River, north of Clarkston, on October 10th of 1805 en route to the Pacific. It was a year and a half after the Corps had started from St. Louis to find the rumored “Northwest Passage” under President Thomas Jefferson’s orders. The Native Americans in the area, the Nez Perce, were of considerable help to the Corps even though the Corps had several Shoshone Indians with them serving as guides. The Shoshone and Nez Perce peoples were ancient enemies. It was at the urging of an elderly Nez Perce woman that the group was spared certain death and shown badly needed hospitality. They even showed the Corps how to make dug-out canoes so the expedition could continue to the Pacific Ocean. That marked the second time that a woman had saved the expedition.

The presence of Sacagawea, the Shoshone wife of French trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, and her newborn son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau reassured many tribes that the expedition was indeed peaceful. After all, how many war parties drag along a woman and infant? More specifically though, Sacagawea was able to negotiate for much needed horses from the Lemhi Shoshone, her tribe. What would have become of the Corps of Discovery without those women?

The bicentennial celebration of this adventurous expedition is wrapping up at the end of October, marking the successful return to St. Louis of the Corps, twenty-eight months after they set off. We have unknowingly been following along the Lewis and Clark Trail since Portland and we’ll continue to follow it through Lolo Pass on our drive to Missoula, Montana when we leave.

I spent a delightful afternoon wandering through the Nez Perce County Historical Museum in Lewiston where I learned a great deal about the area. I also learned this, which has nothing to with the area, but that I want to share with you. The first time the United States printed paper money was during the Civil War because metal was in short supply. Perhaps I should have already known that but I didn’t!

The Clarkston-Lewiston area is the jumping off point for a multitude of outdoor activities. Whether its backpacking, hiking, horseback riding, rafting or boating, the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, south along the Snake River, is the place. Multi-day river float trips on the Snake and its tributary, the Salmon River, “the river of no return” are extremely popular. There’s also the nearby Hells Gate State Park for camping, fishing and bird watching.

Along the rivers in both towns there is a network of developed pathways and parks that extends over 22 miles called the Clearwater and Snake River Recreation Trail. The pathways utilize the levee system that the US Army Corps of Engineers built in the 1970s to protect the towns from flooding. In the evenings we rode our bikes along the path passing joggers, families walking and couples sharing a romantic bench overlooking the river. The path made it very easy to get around, I rode it all the way down to Hells Gate State Park one afternoon.

While at the Park’s Visitor Center I learned that Snake was the term Lewis and Clark used to refer to the Shoshone people. The term derived from the hand signals that the Shoshone used in an attempt to explain their tribal name. I wonder if that is how the river got its name? I haven’t heard any other explanations.

Both Clarkston and Lewiston are blue collar, hard working towns. The Potlatch Paper Mill in Lewiston is a major employer in the area. It also happens to the main source of the foul smell that descends on the towns when the wind changes direction. Potlatch is the butt of many jokes as the residents blame all bad smells on the mill, even human-emitted ones. It was breezy most of our stay so we were spared the odor until we drove by it on our way out of town—but I’m getting ahead of myself.

View the photos of our stay along the Snake River in our Clarkston album.

Dates: We stayed in Clarkston, Washington from 09/11/06 to 09/16/06.