Corp of Discovery Campsite September 4&5, 1805
When entering our Bitterroot Valley on their way west, the Corp of Discovery came over Lost trail Pass from the south. They came down into what we now call "Ross Hole" or Sula, Montana.
This cache is close to where they camped for two nights - Sept 4th and 5th, 1805. Let's see now, I used the date they soaked in the worm spring for #1 and Pomp's birthday on #2, and Clark's death date on #3. How about the day their last thermometer was broken according to William Clark (not others)! Research that day and put it in the form of MM/DD/YYYY and assign AB/CD/EFGH to those numbers and put them into the cords below to find the cords for the cache.
As a check add the MINUETS of north cords to the west cords and you should get 109.331
N 45* H C . (D-E) B E
W 113* H B . G (D+E) (A +G)
They had had a terrible time coming into our valley. They did have a Shoshone guide by the name of "Toby" (and his son) but he had not been of much help. There was a band of Salish Indians camped here and the first "white men" into the valley were welcomed warmly. After staying two nights and trading some horses and buying some others they left by way of the saddle to the east of Sula Peak and went back down to the Bitterroot River at Spring Gulch. Keep in mind that the river route that we drive now on Hwy 93 was not very passable back then.
Take a moment while you are here and read the paper in the cache that I have written with Clark's writings from the journals. You are welcome to take one even without trade. There is of course a logbook and I ask you to log your entry and make any comments you may like to make. Any trade items will work but it would be nice if they related even remotely to The Corp of Discovery or this area in those days.
I have put a cache at each of the Corp of Discovery campsites in the Bitterroot Vally - er I mean Valley! There are seven campsites in our valley. There is one more campsite that is debatable as to just where it is! That one is for September 3rd 1805. There is a lot of disagreement on where it was located. I have put a cache at Lost Trail Pass to represent that campsite and so I have eight Lewis and Clark Campsite Caches in all.
Other things to research: When was the first road blasted through the Bitterroot River canyon just below Sula. Where did the name "Sula" come from? Why did they leave the trail they were on south of Lost Trail Pass? Did they loose the trail? Why are they headed north down the Bitterroot instead of just going west from Salmon down the Salmon River?
WINTER NOTE: This cache would not be much more difficult in the winter than summer!