July 5, 2003 Walking across the street from the Nez Perce Motel in Wisdom, the main street has a bar, gas station and grocery store on its south side in addition to the Big Hole Restaurant where we ate all of our meals. The Big Hole Restaurant shares space with a Gift Shop and Art Gallery. We were joined at breakfast by John Roberson and his wife Roz Newmark who had cycled from Montana into Canada and had stopped into Wisdom after picking up their truck. They were visiting with Roz' brother Bill Newmark who is spending some time this summer in the Big Hole Valley. They all live in Salt Lake City most of the year. This large building is on one of Wisdom's side streets. As we left town and went across the valley, the Bitterroots were on our left. Some of the many cattle grazing on the fresh alfalfa. As we gained a hundred feet or so and were no longer on the valley floor, the vegetation turned to the more typical arid variety. The structures in the background are part of the visitor's center for the Big Hole National Battlefield. Tod Rodgers explains in his book that "this is the place where Chief Joseph and his 'non-treaty' Nez Perce were camped in 1877 when they were surprised by General Gibbon's army." After the army killed many women and children, the Nez Perce fought back and won the battle. They ultimately lost the war... Leaving that solemn area, we began a climb that would take us to the top of Chief Joseph Pass. The Creek to our left was May Creek and at one point the area opened up into another wonderful valley before our climb continued. This riparian area is full of different wildlife although we were going through late enough that we didn't see any but did hear many different birds. At one point the valley extended quite a way north of the road. After climbing again we reached Chief Joseph Pass and the Continental Divide. Ron is very elated to have reached this point! After a nice descent, we reached Hwy 93 and were at the point where Montana and Idaho borders were on each side of the highway. Shortly after turning on 93, we began a grand 7 mile descent. Reaching the bottom of that descent Hwy 93 is a gradual descent into Missoula through the Bitterroot Valley. There were many cattle grazing along the way. The landscape shows the ravages of the massive August 2000 fire. Many areas on the east side of Hwy 93 were not burned. Sula was our water stop on Hwy 93. The fire had come very close to this little town that was originally named Ross' Hole after Ursula Ross. She was the first white person born in the area. A shot of the hillside along the road for the roadside geology buffs. We're following the East Fork of the Bitterroot River at this point. This particular area had really been ravaged by the fire. We're getting closer to population centers. This landowner had teepees erected in the front yard complete with life size sculptures. We took a half mile detour off the highway so that Ron could have his picture taken in Conner. Ron's grandson Conner will be one year old in a week. Conner will be getting a postcard from his Grandpa mailed from "his" town. Many ranches had horses and this particular one was definitely having a great day doing what horses do. Trapper Peak is the highest point (10,157') in the 208 mile long Bitterroot Mountain Range that extends from the Smoke River Valley in Idaho to the Clark Fork River in Montana. As we got closer to Darby we saw our first saw mill. The river is ever so beautiful... Darby has a number of stores appealing to the tourist trade -- antiques, candy, gifts, ice cream. Darby also has a very crowded used bookstore run by a bearded eccentric with a 15 year old cat named Bat. In addition to the more touristy stores, Darby also has a hardware store, a realty, bank, library, laundromat and 3 bars. This mural was on the side of the old laundry, now a gift shop.