July 27, 2014

July 27, 2014

From White Bird, ID we drove north, saw the Battlefield again from above, and to our surprise, just over the next mountain we descended into a flat plain. We crossed it and soon followed a ravine cut into the prairie. It is so odd to see the ranchland on a mesa above us.

In Spalding, ID we stop to visit Nez Perce National Historical Park. Spalding is the headquarters for this park spread over 38 sites in the region. At the Visitor Center we watch the movie about the Nez Perce Indians and their plight once contact was made with white men. Like all Indians they are victims of history. A Stone Age society suddenly thrust ahead thousands of years. They were lost. It would be the same if aliens suddenly arrived on our planet with Star Trek-like technology from the future. Some of us would embrace the change but most of us would try our best to cling to the past. Sadly the world is full of groups that want to turn back the clocks of time and refight yesterday’s battles.

We have our lunch in the picnic area before walking around the grounds. This area used to be the site of a Nez Perce village, and the home of the Indian agent, a missionary (named Spalding), and trading store. Most of it has long disappeared.

From Spalding we followed the Clearwater River upstream to the east. It is a beautiful drive. We think about stopping for the day and camping by the river a few times but it is very hot. We stopped at numerous Nez Perce National Park sites. Most are just pullouts with storyboards about Lewis and Clark’s journey. The Corps of Discovery traveled over the mountains with the aid of Shoshone horses. They then encountered the Nez Perce who fed them, helped them build dugout canoes, and pointed them to the Clearwater River that would lead them to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

We spent the night at a private park in Kamiah, ID just yards from where Lewis and Clark waited for the mountain snows to melt before heading home.