Those who believe there remains no howling wilderness in the United States owe themselves a trip to Idaho. Driving west from Missoula MT, we entered the Lolo pass on Rte. 12. On the Montana/Idaho border we visited a site where the Lewis and Clark expedition was known to have camped on September 14th, 1805, nearly 221 years to the day before we left our footprints there. Called the Glade Creek Camp, I suspect it looked then much as it does today.
Continuing west, we followed along the Lochsa River, flanked by rising mountains dense with tall evergreens, and shrouded by low clouds. Occasionally a burned-out section of forest reminded me that Mother Nature is always at work erasing and rebuilding her eternal project.
At one point in the journey, we left the United States and entered the Nez Perce Reservation, where we stopped at an important spiritual site for their nation. Their origin story surrounds a large rock outcrop, called the “Heart of the Monster.” As the legend goes, before humans were created an evil monster devoured all the animals of the forest. A trickster deity called Coyote allowed himself to be swallowed by the monster, and destroyed it from the inside, setting free all the animals. Wherever parts of the monster fell, there a nation of people sprang up. But the Nez Perce rose from the land surrounding the heart. And there it still rests to this day.
Finally, the rustic cabin in which we stayed, devoid of running water or interior plumbing, would not be totally unfamiliar to Lewis and Clark.
