From where the Sea Bird has docked at the Port of Clarkston, Washington, we have taken jet boats some sixty miles up the Snake River into Hell's Canyon. As we traveled we watched the terrain change, the canyon deepen, and the walls become steep and rugged. Now it is lunchtime, so we have stopped on a sandy beach called China Bar. The warm spring day and the idyllic place have captivated our group completely.
Nearly two hundred years ago in the late spring of 1806, Captain Meriwether Lewis dispatched a small group of his men from where they were camped on the Clearwater River to look for fish. They rode horses toward the Salmon River, following it until it intersected the Snake. Finding an Indian camp below there, they traded for several fish, and headed back the way they had come. The way was long and hard, and after three days the flavor of the salmon had suffered considerably.
From the comfort of our tour we saw some of the country they traveled. Our respect for the hardships that they endured has increased as we reach across the years to connect "In the Wake of Lewis and Clark".
