By Michael Phelps
The first and one of the biggest trips to go out this year was the Lewis and Clark canoe trip on the Missouri River in Montana. With Doug as the leader, our Corps of Discovery was made up of Mike Ennis, Mike McGinn, Lacey Landt, Hondo (Tony Cruikshank), Laura Huberty, Conan (Bill Gallagher), Jamie O’Day, Dan Voaklander, Matt Evans, Casey Bakken, Gabe Peterson, and Me. Stimpy (Josh Stinson, a ’93 graduate) and Marcelle Dorenkamp a ’97 graduate, came as well.
We paddled 150 miles past deserted bluffs, majestic “White Rock” cliffs, and many, many cow pastures. Following the route of Lewis and Clark, we saw many of the voyagers’ famous landmarks- “Slaughter River”, “Hole in the Wall”, and the Marias River to name a few. The rivers’ most famous landmark, “Eye of the Needle”, was missed due to unfortunate circumstances earlier this year.
Everyone met at Perkins Sunday morning, to shove off on the two day, two van, drive to Ft. Benton, Montana. We stayed there for a day to tour some museums in town. The first night there, while sleeping in the town park, the park sprinkler came on around 2:00 A.M. at night where we were sleeping. We moved only to have the sprinklers in that location turn on as well. Matt, who had slept somewhere else with Hondo, laughed at us until the water came on there too. Everything except Doug, who was laughing in his tent, was soaked. As Mini-School trippers, there was only one suitable thing to do in a situation like this. We built a fire across the street to dry off. It must have been quite a sight for the locals driving by to see this bunch of strange kids huddled around a burning pile of lumber in the middle of town.
The group put in the river on Wednesday, and began paddling by endless bluffs, almost completely devoid of trees. Among the shrubbery were the first of many, many cows we would encounter on the trip. The bluffs eventually grew into steep, often vertical cliffs of white sandstone. These beautiful rock formations created natural “cathedrals” all along the river. They were often the focus of free time excursions.
We stayed on actual Lewis and Clark campsites on several occasions and we were constantly hearing about the voyage of exploration including a half hour book on tape each night in camp. I know that everyone on the trip, including Doug, learned more than we ever would have in the classroom.
The trip had its highs, like Conan’s light shows (performed with a burning stick) or when groups climbed the cliffs to behold some breathtaking views. One night around the campfire Bill did a different performance. He stood up and began stumbling around on the wood pile with a terribly confused look on his face. This spectacle continued for quite some time until he stopped and said “My leg fell asleep.”
The trip had its downs as well, like paddling a quarter mile upstream around an island or a violent windstorm the last night on the river (although some found it enjoyable). I found sitting on a prickly pear cactus to be a particular low for me. On the way back to Minnesota we stopped in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. The wildlife we saw there included countless Prairie Dog towns, herds of Buffalo, and the last remaining herd of wild horses east of the Rockies. But no cows.
This trip was one of my favorites so far and definitely among the greatest a learning experiences of my life, thanks to my fellow trippers.