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Published: July 30th 2018
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Yesterday, on another day off, we drove to Missoula to pick up Becky, and did a little shopping as well.
Very productive for me, as I traded my inadequate sleeping bag for a warmer one at REI. Since arriving in Colorado, I have been mostly unsuccessful in trying to stay warm.
Finally last night, I was very cozy and warm in my new sleeping bag!
We started early and it was really cold! Somewhere near 40 degrees!
Early on the ride we passed the Big Hole Battleground.
We actually spent some time there yesterday and had a great opportunity to tour the battleground with a wonderful guide named Maria Faldo. She really made the story of Big Hole come alive as we walked the major parts of the battleground.
That battle and the story of the Nez Perce Indian tribe fleeing the US Military is indeed a sad part of our US History.
In a nutshell, once gold was discovered in the Nez Pierce Reservation,(agreed upon by a 1855 Treaty), European Americans moving West and looking for Gold began to encroach the Reservation.
Many skirmishes broke out when the Nez Perce understandably objected to
Looking over the Big Hole Battleground
The Nez Perce TeePee’s are in the upper right corner this encroachment!
Rather than enforce the Treaty, the US Congress decided to unilaterally break the treaty and reduce the agreed upon lands to a much smaller reservation away from the gold fields.
Several of the different Nez Perce Bands did not resist and moved to the new reservation.
Chief Joseph’s band of the Nez Perce however, (200 warriors and 600 women and children) resisted the new imposed Reservation and there were continued skirmishes with the settlers.
Finally the a US Government representative told Chief Joseph that his Band had one month to get to the new reservation.
On their way, three young Indian Warriors from Chief Joseph’s tribe, decided to avenge an earlier death of a Tribe Member by some settlers.
They attacked and killed several other settlers.
After that, the US Military set out after the Tribe.
During their flight to the East, the Nez Perce settled for a while in a beautiful meadow on the Big Hole River.
In the middle of the night, while asleep in their Teepee’s, they were attacked by 149 US Army and 34 Citizens.
In the initial attack, the solders were told to
Maria Faldo our guide
She did a fantastic job! ‘fire three rounds each at the base of the tents’.
Many women, children and warriors were killed in their Sleep, and then the solders started to burn the Village!
The surviving Warriors attacked the infantry, chased them into the hills and surrounded them.
The solders were out of water and hungry, when days later the US Calvary rode in to save their solders.
( Makes for a great Western!)
At that point the tribe was vastly outnumbered and fled to the East.
They were chased for 1700 miles before they were finally captured.
Rather than returning them to the Reservation in Idaho, they were sent to Kansas and Oklahoma to other Indian Reservations.
The tribe never were allowed to return to the Idaho Reservation with the other Nez Perce.
On to our bicycle ride for today,
Our entire route was on the Louis and Clark trail.
As we continued our bicycle ride, we rode up over the Continental Divide again at Chief Joseph Pass and then descended down into the Bitterroot Valley.
The valley is very narrow and we rode beside the Bitterroot River most of the way
to Darby.
Since it was a Sunday, the roads were almost empty.
It was just a perfect day and we made good time to Darby despite the headwinds for the last 15 miles.
After our arrival and another excellent salad by Jane, we drove up to Painted Rocks State Park. It is about 25 miles up in the Bitterroot National Forest, south of I-93.
There are lots of colorful and almost vertical rock formations in the Park, and the Painted Rock Reservoir has numerous campgrounds and boat landings.
It is a beautiful place.
During our drive we got to see a large Buck Deer running down the middle of the road.
We followed him for 1000 yards and he finally took off up a 60% plus hill.
I am always awed at the way they can go a steep hill like that with ease.
What a great day!
Tomorrow we will ride about 66 miles to Missoula and visit the Adventure Cycling Headquarters.
I can’t wait.
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Tot: 0.203s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 31; dbt: 0.157s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Maria Elena Serrato
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Life is Good
You go Bob. All those pictures and stories bring back such wonderful memories . So blessed to be able to do this. Enjoy every moment and every ride ...