Lewis and Clark’s return trip on the Columbia and Snake Rivers

We took an American Cruise Lines adventure on the American West riverboat on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Our adventure started in Portland, OR on the Columbia River and ended on the Snake River at Clarkston, WA.  

From Portland, we proceeded west to Astoria, OR stopping to visit the Mount St. Helens area which experienced a huge volcanic eruption in 1980.  After visiting Astoria, we followed the Lewis and Clark Trail traveling east on their return route back to St. Louis, MO.  

Lewis and Clark began the return to St. Louis from a point east of Astoria on 23 March 1806, and we followed their journey up the Columbia River to our final destination on the Snake River at Clarkston, WA where they passed through on 27-29 April 1806.

Being able to experience traveling the river that they were on and seeing the views they saw was amazing. On the Columbia River we passed several large cities and on both sides of the river were highways providing a good view of the river but we had a great view by being on the river. While cruising on the Snake River you felt like you were on the expedition. Lewis or Clark would typically walk along the bank and hunt on their way to the next site. On the Snake River, it is possible to visualize them hunting big game. We spotted deer and goats on our adventure.

​Check out the photos of our adventure: https://www.NationalParkPlanningGuides.com/photos.html