Salmon Trout and Small Prairie Camps

“after dinner we proceeded on to Collin’s Creek and encamped in a pleasant situation at the upper part of the meadows”
—Meriwether Lewis, June 18, 1806

A relatively brief side-trip up Road 500 takes you to a couple of beautiful campsites used by the Expedition in 1805 and 1806. Both are small, mountain prairies that have remained essentially unchanged. However, Eldorado Creek is no longer known as a trout stream as it was in June 1806:

“This evening Several Salmon trout were Seen in the Creek, they hid themselves under the banks of the Creek which jutted over in Such a manner as to secure them from the Stroke of our giggs nets and spears which were made for the purpose of taking those Salmon trout.”
—William Clark, June 19, 1806

These two Lewis and Clark camp sites are ½ mile apart and accessible via the western-most end of the Lolo Motorway—a segment built to modern Forest Service standards to accommodate past logging nearby.