Helena Montana
The Helena National Forest has a lovely <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1749&entry_id=1552" title="http://www.fs.fed.us/rl/helena/resources/heritage_resources/lewis_clark.shtml" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.fs.fed.us/rl/helena/resources/heritage_resources/lewis_clark.shtml’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Lewis and Clark Expedition</a> page, and in the frosty winter I thought I’d share a cactus bloom with you.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><img width="142" hspace="5" height="212" border="2" align="left" src="/blog/uploads/misc/lc_prickleypear.jpg" />The Three Forks, the headwaters of the Missouri River offered the exhausted travelers a short reprieve. The men hunted, fished and worked skins into leather for clothes and moccasins. The captains took map readings and scouted ahead. For Sacajawea, this was the place where she had been captured and taken to the Mandan village. Recognizing her homeland and assuring them that her people were near, boosted the mens spirits.<br />
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The expedition did eventually find the Shoshone and obtained horses, thanks in large part to Sacajawea. After several more months of strenuous travel through the mountains and down the Columbia River, in November 1805, they finally reached the Pacific Ocean.</span><br /></div><br />
