Hike to Lewis and Clark Pass on July 23rd

Every summer the Evangelical Covenant Church offers several hikes. Total strangers are welcome! The "hike of the month" for July will be to Lewis and Clark Pass near Lincoln (details below). Next month the hike will be an overnighter on August 11-12 to view an annual meteor shower.

The photo at the top of this page was taken from Green Mountain on May 17, 2006 as I approached the pass from the south. On Sunday, July 23, 2006 I will offer two hikes to Lewis and Clark Pass.

It is important that you let me (Rod Benson 443-0003) know if you plan to do either of the hikes. Please provide $5 per person to the driver if you catch a ride from Helena. No dogs on this hike please.

Option A . . .
This option is a more challenging 9.6 mile hike from Roger's Pass to Lewis and Clark Pass along the Continental Divide Trail. Participants will meet in the Helena Middle School parking lot west of the Vigilante Stadium soon after the early service (about 10:15 am). We will organize rides and then make the one-hour drive to Roger's Pass east of Lincoln. We will park at Roger's Pass and hike along the Continental Divide Trail to Lewis and Clark Pass (7.9 miles). At Lewis and Clark Pass we will meet a group that is doing a much shorter hike to the pass (about 1.7 miles) and they will give us a ride back to our cars at Roger's Pass.

To find out more about Lewis and Clark Pass, click here.

Option B: The easier hike. . .
This group, which will be led by Mardi Benson (my wife), will do a fairly easy 3.4-mile round-trip hike to Lewis and Clark Pass near Lincoln. Meet in the church parking lot at 1 p.m. From there you will make a one-hour and 15 minute drive to the trailhead at Alice Creek east of Lincoln. From there you will make the 1.7-mile hike up a gentle slope to the pass where Lewis and his group of men crossed over the Continental Divide on their way back from the Pacific 200 years ago. If things go as planned, you will meet group A at the pass, and then both groups will descend along the shorter trail. Those who made the longer hike (group A) will catch a ride (with group B) back to Roger's Pass (a 20-minute drive) in order to retrieve their cars for the one-hour trip to back to Helena.