Orofino

Orofino is located on the north side of the Clearwater River, near the junction with the North Fork of the Clearwater River. The North Fork has been dammed to form the Dworshak Reservoir, which Randall and I visited after Chase the Snake. The information plaque shows the dam wall as being 771 feet high.

Dworshak Dam near Orofino, ID

The dam wall as seen from the road into Orofino. By this time of year, the dam is releasing water for power production and irrigation.

Train bridge over North Fork of Clearwater River below Dworshak Dam, ID, flowing into Clearwater River

Looking downstream from the same location as the above photo. The main branch of the Clearwater flows in from the left beyond the railway bridge.

Lewis and Clark 'Canoe Camp'

The nearest bridge across the Clearwater River is in Orofino, so I continued into town, then joined west bound US-12 on the south bank. While looking for a place to stop to see if there was an interesting photo of the dam wall, I saw an historic site so pulled in. And sort of hit the jackpot!

It turns out that the Lewis and Clark expedition camped here on September 26th, 1805 because of the availablity of suitable trees to build the five canoes they needed to reach the ocean. The display board provides more details.

Lewis and Clark camp site at junction of Clearwater and North Fork of Clearwater River

The display board, and a canoe model in the style (and I presume) size used by the expedition. Also visible is the fork in the river, noted in the expedition journal and thus used to locate the camp. Of course, the dam wasn't there!

Junction of Clearwater and North Fork of Clearwater River - Lewis and Clark's Canoe Camp site

The river fork - the Clearwater in from the right and flowing out the left, with the North Fork coming in from the dam.

Dworshak Dam from Lewis and Clark's Canoe Camp site

From here, it was a case of heading to Pullman to spend the night. While I could have stayed nearby, there were some areas around Pullman which I wanted to photograph, for comparison with the Chase the Snake pictures. The route was west US-12 then north onto US-95 and then US-195 to Pullman. Nothing spectacular, but it was getting late, and I was hungry!

Deep In Idaho

Wheat Fields Around Pullman right arrow