Gates of the Mountains (Part 1)

Meriwether Lewis and his party of explorers entered the looming cliffs and natural towers of stone that express the Gates of the Mountains by way of the Missouri River late in the day on July 19 of 1805.  Lewis wrote in his journal that the explorers had entered the canyon by way of “the most remarkable clifts we have yet seen.”  The full cross-shadows at water level and the teetering stone walls many hundreds of feet above the dark water prompted Lewis to add that the canyon wore “a dark and gloomy aspect.”

  

Living in or near Helena, we are fortunate to be only twenty or thirty minutes from the Gates of the Mountains.  Yesterday, we took advantage of our close proximity.  Five of us spent most of the sunlight hours exploring the Gates in a friend’s boat.  We even stopped for a short hike against the sun-washed mountains.

I would rate our experience on the opposite end of the scale from “dark and gloomy.”  We had a great time—especially when the afternoon sun found and warmed us as our boat slowly sliced through the waters furrowing around the oxbow bends of the ancient river channel.

Posted today are photographs of the trip through the Canyon.

--Mitchell Hegman