About mid-August, we plan to basically do the L and C road starting at Omaha and ending at Glacier NP taking about a total month. Sort of did it years ago but have forgotten a lot. I know that the route is on both sides of the Missouri and that some places there is more than 1 way to go. Just wondering if there are any suggestions, must sees, places to avoid, etc. I'm planing for 220-320 miles between campgrounds. Especially wondering if there are any campgrounds we might want to spend more than 1 night before we get to Glacier NP which we know well. Thanks.

My wife,a grade school teacher wanted to do this in the 1990s. We picked the trail up in Omaha and for 3 weeks tried to stay as close as possible to the most traveled routes. We ended up at the site of Fort Clatsop near Astoria OR. In those days it was really pretty hard since there were few markers and many keep out signs. In many places you are miles away from the actual route. Been back over a lot of that route and have found much more tourist friendly in recent years. The Arch in Omaha has good information and the Bridge exhibit over freeway as you enter NE is outstanding. There is or was a web site dedicated to the subject.

I always find a good guidebook to be helpful

The only suggestion I can give you is about 1 Iowa State Park along your route.Waubonsie State Park is about 10 miles west of Nebraska City off I-29.The campground is fairly small,but they have some large sites.They have a nice bath house and the price in 2016 was $16 a night with electric. If you pull in on a weekend you may not get a site,but we went in on a Monday and there were maybe 6 or 7 other campers.

You probably already know this, but there are great sites around Bismark, ND. We stayed at Fort Lincoln State Park at Mandan and visited the Lewis and Clark sites and the Knife Indian Village while there.

I bought "Along the Trail with Lewis and Clark" by Fifer and Soderberg before we started following the trail on a 2013 trip. Good reference and timeless. There's a handy National Park Service map called "Lewis and Clark Trail", too, part of the National Historic Trail series.We started at the Arch in St. Louis and enjoyed the excellent museum and films underneath. There's a statue down by the river near the Arch of L&C. We stopped at many sites working our way north like the Nebraska City Interpretive center and Sgt. Floyd Monument. Camped by the water at L&C State Park in Onawa, Iowa, and at American Creek RV in Chamberlain, SD by the Missouri. Several of the Info Centers had small museums with keelboat replicas and statues, always with Seaman, the dog. Climbed up Pompey's Pillar in Montana to see Clark's signature carved in the rock.This summer, we saw the Great Falls Interpretive Center(with its resident Newfoundland dog) and, on the Pacific Coast, camped at Fort Stevens State Park to visit the L&C National Historical Park. There are still lots of points we haven't yet seen, but it's an enjoyable quest.

Following Lewis and Clark | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

padredw
Nomad
Jul 06, 2017
You probably already know this, but there are great sites around Bismark, ND. We stayed at Fort Lincoln State Park at Mandan and visited the Lewis and Clark sites and the Knife Indian Village while there.
RGar974417
Explorer
Jul 06, 2017
The only suggestion I can give you is about 1 Iowa State Park along your route.Waubonsie State Park is about 10 miles west of Nebraska City off I-29.The campground is fairly small,but they have some large sites.They have a nice bath house and the price in 2016 was $16 a night with electric. If you pull in on a weekend you may not get a site,but we went in on a Monday and there were maybe 6 or 7 other campers.
agesilaus
Explorer III
Jul 06, 2017
I always find a good guidebook to be helpful
rbtglove
Explorer
Jul 06, 2017
My wife,a grade school teacher wanted to do this in the 1990s. We picked the trail up in Omaha and for 3 weeks tried to stay as close as possible to the most traveled routes. We ended up at the site of Fort Clatsop near Astoria OR. In those days it was really pretty hard since there were few markers and many keep out signs. In many places you are miles away from the actual route. Been back over a lot of that route and have found much more tourist friendly in recent years. The Arch in Omaha has good information and the Bridge exhibit over freeway as you enter NE is outstanding. There is or was a web site dedicated to the subject.

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Following Lewis and Clark

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