Lemhi Pass, Continental Divide

After leaving the Teton Wilderness, I entered the Centennial Mountains, which straddle the border between Wyoming and Idaho. Hiking over the ridgelines, I was afforded epic views over both states. I left Yellowstone behind at Targhee Pass and then ascended Mount Jefferson, one of the highest peaks in this section of the Rockies, rising to 10,203 ft (3100 m). Not quite a 14er, but still a challenging hike.

As has usually been the case in these border sections of the CDT, there were few other hikers, and I met no one until I arrived at Lemhi Pass. A typically impressive Rocky Mountain scene, this high pass at 7,373 ft (2,247 m) provided stunning views of the rocky outcrops, winding rivers, and steep forested slopes of the Centennial Mountains.

This is a place of great historical significance; here, in 1806, Lewis and Clark first crossed the Continental Divide when they and their group of about 30 people trekked through Lemi Pass. Lewis and Clark’s expedition, officially named the Corps of Discovery, was ordered by President Thomas Jefferson in an attempt to map out and explore the vast tracts of land sold to the U.S. by the French after the Louisiana Purchase. Guided by an indigenous Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, they crossed the Great Plains until they reached the Rockies. Once there, they would have to find a way through the mountains.

The endeavour would have been hopeless without the help of the local Shoshone people, who showed them the route through Lemhi Pass. Sacagawea acted as an interpreter and negotiator, using her connections with the tribal elite to secure the horses from Shoshone chief Cameahwait (Sacagawea’s brother), making traversing the rugged terrain possible. From here, the expedition would follow the Snake River system, which would bring them finally to the Pacific Ocean.

This is a spot where history turned. If the expedition had failed, perhaps we would live in a very different world. Lewis and Clark brought back a wealth of scientific and geographical knowledge to Jefferson, but more than that, this was the beginning of the USA’s colonisation and settlement of the West Coast. It was the beginning of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the American people had the right to settle  the great North American landmass, already inhabited by Indigenous peoples. It was an idea that brought misery and destruction to the North America’s’s indigenous inhabitants, but opened up vast tracts of land to mass migration and led to the European settlement of the West Coast.