Tour Schedule  •   Terms & Conditions

July 5–15, 2008

• 11 DAYS / 10 NIGHTS
• Historian Guide: Ed Bearss
• Services of a professional tour director
• Deluxe motorcoach transportation
• All admissions to included features
• Ten nights hotel accommodations
• Ten breakfasts, four lunches, and four dinners
• Welcome briefing
• All taxes, baggage handling, and gratuities on included features
• Suggested reading list

To book this tour, call (800) 628-8542

  Overview

For thousands of years the valleys, prairies, and plateaus of north-central Idaho and eastern Oregon and Washington were the homeland of the Nez Perce. Today the traditions and history of this great people live on in 38 separate sites scattered across four beautiful states, the three previously mentioned and Montana.

On this richly scenic tour we will visit many of these sites. Among them is the place where the Nez Perce graciously received the earliest two white men, Lewis and Clark, in 1805. Some 40 years later this proud nation found itself a part of the United States when the U.S. and Great Britain divided the Oregon Territory along the 49th parallel. By 1855 much of the Nez Perce traditional homeland had become a reservation.

When asked about his favorite tour, Ed Bearss, Historian Guide extraordinaire, will tell you that it is Nez Perce. On this tour he will tell vividly how the Nez Perce met the white intruders — the explorers, fur traders, missionaries, soldiers, settlers, gold miners, loggers, farmers, and ultimately their armies — first in friendship, then in war, and finally in a failed flight for freedom that led ultimately to their surrender.

Edwin C. Bearss

Ed Bearss was a Marine who still is the epitome of “esprit de corps” in all that he does. Now Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, he is the most legendary battlefield guide in America. The recipient of many awards in the fields of history and preservation, he is also the author of volumes of important writings on the Civil War.

  Day by Day

Day 1, Saturday, July 5 Meet in Lewiston, Idaho, at the Red Lion Hotel for a welcome briefing and dinner hosted by Ed Bearss and HistoryAmerica.

Day 2, Sunday, July 6 Beginning in the still pristine Wallowa Valley where the Nez Perce Historic Trail starts, you will be introduced to the great Chief Joseph and the culture of his people.

Day 3, Monday, July 7 Today you will walk the Whitebird Battlefield, the first engagement of the war and a crushing defeat for the U.S. Army.

Day 4, Tuesday, July 8 You will visit the canoe camp of Lewis and Clark on the Clearwater River while en route to Weippe Prairie, the western terminus of the Lolo Trail, which the Nez Perce followed to their buffalo hunting ground.

Day 5, Wednesday, July 9 The path of the Nez Perce up the Bitterroot Valley takes you to the site of the bloody battle of Big Hole.

Day 6, Thursday, July 10 More Lewis and Clark today as you stand at the monument to them before viewing the site of another hopeless battle at Camas Meadows.

Day 7, Friday, July 11 A change of pace as you spend the day in Yellowstone National Park at Old Faithful, Tower Falls, and the magnificent Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone—sites that make the crown jewel of our national parks an incomparable experience.

Day 8, Saturday, July 12 It’s back to the war as you learn of the hundreds of Nez Perce men, women, and children who scrambled down the steep canyon walls at Clark’s Fork Canyon to escape the U.S. Army troops.

Day 9, Sunday, July 13 You will visit the site where the U.S. Cavalry moves to head off the Nez Perce at Canyon Creek as the Indians desperately attempt to flee to Canada.

Day 10, Monday, July 14 Today you will visit Bear’s Paw Battlefield where Colonel Miles forced the final surrender of Chief Joseph. The tour will end with a farewell dinner in Great Falls, Montana.

Day 11, Tuesday, July 15 After breakfast you may depart at your leisure or return by bus to Lewiston.

  Cost ~ 11 days / 10 nights

$2,695 per person double occupancy
$3,195 per person single occupancy