The Gates of the Mountains

On July 6th, 2011, over 200 years later, we are in the area Meriwether Lewis and his Corps of Discovery encountered so long ago. Instead of canoe's we are getting ready to board a tour boat. The boat is behind Randy and the kids to the right...
Here are the kids and I on the boat, pulling out from the docks...
...and headed into the 'gates'. Our tour guide/captain Kyle, is silhouetted in the bottom left of this picture. He was super informative and a great story-teller!
We saw many interesting limestone formations...
A naturally occurring 'monster face' ...
And a 'bridge'...
This is the place (below) where some believe Lewis and his men spent the night after entering the gates that evening of July 19th. The campground that is here now is named after John Colter, one of the members of the Corp of Discovery with Lewis and Clark. He was the first known white man to set foot in Yellowstone Park and not many in those days believed his tales of what he saw there. We were surprised to see this sign spell his name 'Coulter' as all of history records his name as 'Colter'. Maybe someone didn't use spell check!?
How neat to see Indian pictographs as we went by these rocks...
The cauliflower looking flora that we saw on these cliffs in the canyon are actually part of the rose family and they bloom with a tiny purple rose in the early spring. There is only 2 other places on the earth that they are known to grow...

We also learned about the Mann Gulch fire that occurred here in 1949. To read about this most tragic event go here. It forever changed the way fire fighters were trained to survive in a fire...
Looking back on the 'open gates'...
...and watching the gates close.

A lot has changed in 200 years. I try and imagine what Mr. Lewis and his men would have felt as they came to this part in their journey along the Missouri River. Maybe Steven Ambrose says it best in his book about the expedition, Undaunted Courage. On page 253 he writes...

Lewis led the canoes up the river. It was hard going, whether using the cord, the setting poles, or the paddles. Whenever the mountains broke back to give a view, there was to their right the disheartening sight of lofty summits all covered with snow, standing between the expedition and it's goal.

Alison