It was a treacherous and extremely difficult journey over the Bitterroot Mountains. While making early plans before the journey started it was hoped that when they reached the end of the Missouri River they would just ride up one side of a mountain and down the other to a spring where the Colorado River began. What they found was quite different.
The Corps of Discovery ascended into the Bitterroot Mountains, which
Sergeant Patrick Gass called “the most terrible mountains I ever beheld.”
They ran short of provisions and butchered a horse for food. The mountains extended much
further than they expected. Clark named a stream Hungry Creek to
describe their condition. Before they reached the other side they would butcher another horse.
11 days later, on the brink of starvation, the entire expedition staggered out of the Bitterroots near modern-day Weippe, Idaho in the land of the Nez Percé tribe. The men got sick from gorging themselves on salmon and camas roots provided by the Indians so they bought several dogs from the Indians for a meat source. Throughout their time in the Oregon Territory they frequently dined on dog meat and find them to be tasty. Once they get to the coast they will have deer and elk to hunt.
In early November they reach the coast and have difficulty managing their canoes with the changing tides and stormy waves. They find a cove withing a reasonable walk to the ocean and build Fort Clatsop which by Christmas they were in their cabins for the celebration.
A crew was sent to the ocean to set up for salt production using large kettles and boiling out the water. Throughout the winter they were able to produce enough salt to make the journey back to St. Louis. Also there were plentiful game in the area so they had hides to make new clothes for the return trip.
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