On March 28th, Grinnell’s Jack Sherman presented the story of his march (and paddle!) along the Lewis & Clark Trail to Mayflower Community residents and guests at their regular weekly Lyceum program. Having always been intrigued by the exploration work of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Jack decided to travel parts of the National Historic Trail for himself.
Lewis and Clark departed St. Louis in May 1804 with the “Corps of Discovery” and headed west in an effort to explore and map the new lands bought in the Louisiana Purchase. Having only one death en route, they reached the Pacific Ocean at Portland, Oregon and then returned to St Louis in September 1806.
The Corps of Discovery, composed of a select group of U.S. Army volunteers, was the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States.
The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is part of the National Trails System of the United States. It extends for some 3,700 miles from Wood River, Illinois, to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. Managed by the National Park Service, it hosts over 250,000 visitors a year.
A highlight for Jack Sherman, after canoeing a portion of the river trail by himself, was being joined by his son Drew and a number of his friends for additional canoeing.
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