November 21, 2024 at 6:45 a.m.
Flight of Discovery - June 10, 2004: Through the Gates of the Mountains
By Mike Harding, Expedition Leader
This is the eleventh installment on the Flight of Discovery, an aerial scientific expedition that retraced the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail from Indiana to the Pacific Ocean. It is summarized by Mike Harding, the Expedition Leader. A complete accounting of the2004-2006 expeditions is recounted in his upcoming book, On the Wings of an Eagle: Tragedy and Triumph of the Flight of Discovery.
“Shortly after Capt. Clark arrived with the Interpreter Charbono and the Indian woman, who proved to be a sister of the Chif Cameahwait. the meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah cah-gar-we-ah and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her and had afterwards escaped from the Minnitares and rejoined her nation.” -- Meriwether Lewis describing the meeting with the Shoshone, August 17, 1805.
Mike’s Journal June 11, 2004
I’ve pretty much given up on the idea that we can launch early in the morning; we schedule 8 a.m. but generally are lucky to get off by 10 a.m. I’m concerned about late starts primarily because of turbulence and uplift over the mountains. But we also have folks to meet along the Trail, and they look at our schedule on the web, unaware of what it takes to get 34 people and aircraft rolling every day: it’s like trying to push a garden hose. There is some grumbling among the members of the crew that are up and ready to go about those that are not so ready. Considering how far we’ve come, it’s amazing to me that everyone is still getting along just fine.
Lewis and Clark remarked many times about how their crew – in the face of daily toils and routine adversity – approached their tasks cheerfully. In reading their journals, I thought statements to that effect must have been bogus, while they attempted to put a brave face on a difficult task. I believe their words now because I’ve seen it for myself in this crew. They’ve developed into a family. But the next time we do this, I think I’ll suggest that rather than depart as together all the time, everyone should just agree to meet at the next waypoint.
Sigfried and Greg left us here at Great Falls. Our loyal Dog of Discovery needed a rest, so Greg took him by van to his ranch in Big Fork for a little R & R. We’ll miss both of them terribly.
Today, the morning delay works in our favor as the weather begins to clear out over the mountains as the flight continues south. Gates of the Mountains: from altitude it’s easy to make out Mann Gulch and the historic fire written about by Norman Maclean in his book, Young Men and Fire. We actually fly quite high above the Gates and Canyon Ferry Reservoir to avoid turbulence. We exit the reservoir, noting the artificial breeding islands at the south end and fly lower along the winding river valley landing at historic Three Forks for fuel. I could live here.
After quickly fueling and playing with the FBO’s resident dogs, we launch into the clearing skies, eventually landing abreast snow-capped mountains in beautiful Twin Bridges - an airport we were actually invited to stop at by Heather at Ruby Valley Aviation. Here we encountered our first kids with signs - ready to trade. The crew really enjoyed this impromptu bartering and exchanged buttons and medallions for pins, purses, and pizza provided generously by the FBO.
From the airport, the Beaverhead - recognized 200 years ago by Sacajawea as indicating her homeland - really looks like a large swimming rodent. While we were on the ground, a charter flight of fishermen arrived from San Diego; go figure. Like me at Mandan, Roger decided to challenge high density altitude and take off on the grass strip. And like me, he quickly radioed back to use the asphalt runway.
The FOD was welcomed at Salmon, ID Airport by a group of locals. June 11, 2004. Photo credit: Mike Harding.
At Salmon airport we were met by Terry Whittier, his family, and a host of local students and citizens, all with signs of welcome. We were escorted to the new Sacajawea Interpretive Center where we presented the first program in the new Meriwether Lewis Theater. After the presentation we were hosted to a fantastic Dutch-oven dinner sponsored by Salmon Air. During dinner we were serenaded by a fiddle group. I was invited to join in (like Lewis and Clark, I didn’t want to offend the natives) so I picked up a loose guitar and added to the general cacophony; it was a hoot. As Brian said: “Anyone who serves me six different desserts is a friend of mine.”
