Following the Nez Perce Trail, 2nd ed: A Guide to the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail with Eyewitness Accounts [Paperback]

Cheryl Wilfong (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Winding through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon, the Nez Perce Historical Trail covers a lot of ground and a lot of history. Cheryl Wilfong's guide does the same, providing practical nuts & bolts information on how, when, and where to navigate the trail, plus a chronological history of the flight of the Nez Perce. It's a well-balanced combination of details both pragmatic and poetic.

How much ground you choose to cover depends on your time, stamina, and type of vehicle. There are backroads, jeep trails, private ranch roads, and hiking trails, and there are highway routes that'll get you close without sending you off among the sagebrush. Even avid Trail buffs, however, rarely do more than a segment or two at a time, and the guide is structured such that you can pick up any leg of the journey and know easily where you are, logistically as well as in terms of "The Story:quot;--a 20-page history of the Nez Perce Nation from "time beyond memory" to 1885 when the Nez Perce were all consigned to reservations.

The Trail is split into 13 segments, each with its own chronology, terrain, and travel plan. The fifth leg, for example, is the Lolo Trail, from Kamiah, Idaho to Lolo, Montana. Over a century ago it saw the journey of Nez Perce from July 1 through July 16, 1877, including the Battle of Clearwater. Covering 56 miles and with alternative routes for Mainstream, Adventurous, and Intrepid travelers (Wilfong's classifications for people in RVs, cars, and jeeps), the chapter contains specific history of the trail segment, snippets of first-hand accounts, and detailed directions as to which gravel road to take to the Mount Idaho Cemetery or the Clearwater Battleground site. Beautifully written and educational, this is a lovely book for both historians and travelers. --Stephanie Gold --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 493 pages
• Publisher: Oregon State University Press; 2 Rev Exp edition (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870711172
• ISBN-13: 978-0870711176
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,030,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cheryl Wilfong teaches mindfulness meditation at Vermont Insight Meditation Center when she isn't rearranging one of her 28 flower beds or tending her out-of-control vegetable garden. Master Gardener and mistress of metaphor, she delivers the Dharma into daily life in the garden.

She holds a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from Antioch New England, with a concentration in Mindfulness and completed an internship with Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. She has completed the Community Dharma Leader training program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Independent Study and Practice Program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. She is currently studying Matt Flickstein's two-year curriculum.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely essential, a gift to all researchers, October 9, 2002

By 

Dr. K (Bemidji, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Following the Nez Perce Trail: A Guide to the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail with Eyewitness Accounts (Paperback)

Alas, I have been asked by my publisher to write yet another book on Chief Joseph. I wish to do it well and respectfully, and, if possible, break a little new ground. So, I may be one of ten people on earth who has travelled the Nez Perce trail, both known and unknown, from the Wallowa all the way to Tonkawa, with requisite sidetrips to Nespelem and various relevant sites. All in all, I've put about 10,000 miles into this enterprise. And here's the hard truth: Cheryl Wilfong, whoever she is -- and God bless her researching soul -- has made this trip possible. She has broken the route down into three categories -- mainstream traveller, for the pavement folk; adventurous traveller, for the dirt road folk; and intrepid traveller for the white-knuckle, high center clearance, "I don't need guard rails" folk. I did it mostly on the adventurous/intrepid roads. And I can say, unequivocally, that she has created a work that will not soon be bettered, and which is absolutely invaluable for any Nez Perce afficianado, from the casual traveller to the "I only come out of the archives to breathe" geeks who are researching the familial ties between Wahlatits and Yellow Bull.

By the very nature of the task, she has a few errors, and they can put you in harm's way, such as having you travel 1.8 miles to a crossroads in the vast emptiness of Montana's back country when the actual distance is 11.8 miles. But these errors are so few as to be remarkable in their infrequency. Overall, she takes you mile by mile, dusty crossroad by dusty crossroad, rutted mountain pass by rutted mountain path, and conducts you on an assiduously researched journey of the trail that the Nez Perce followed from their homeland in the Wallowa and Snake/Salmon country to their exile in Oklahoma.

I could give you endless specifics, but here is the bottom line: you cannot take this trip, or any portion of it, without this book. You can forget your Josephy, misplace your Haines and your Lavender, or trade your Greene and your McWhorter for extra gas money. But you cannot -- CANNOT -- take this journey without having this book on the seat next to you.

Take it from someone who stopped at every pile of stones, every remnant of rifle pit and breastwork, every old campsite and every battle and staging area; who walked the high country trails near Lolo and the lowland campgrounds on the flats below Fort Leavenworth: You absolutely must buy this book if you choose to retrace any of this journey.

The Nez Perce Historic Trail Foundation and the National Park Service should canonize this woman.

End of story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars viewing history, July 7, 2000

By 

"lawahl" (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Following the Nez Perce Trail: A Guide to the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail with Eyewitness Accounts (Paperback)

This is an excellent work which I plan to use as a tool for planning vacations over the next summers. The history is concise yet accurate and supplements works by Helen Addison Howard (Saga of Chief Joseph), Merrill Beale (I Will Fight No More Forever), Alvin Josephy (The Nez Perce and the Opening of the Northwest), L. V. McWhorter (Yellow Wolf & Hear Me My Chiefs!) The maps, side trips, and road condition guides are useful. Classifications of roads for vehicles and travelers described as mainstream, adventurous and intrepid are unique for this type of history book and assist in planning based on the type of vehicle one might be using. Reminds me of hiking books. A knowledge of geography is vital to understanding history. Wilfong aids amature historians visiting the areas to view and get a better understanding of the physical conditions both the troops and the Nez Perce found in this tragic chapter of American history.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the Trail of the Nez Perce Retreat, September 19, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Following the Nez Perce Trail: A Guide to the Nee-Me-Poo National Historic Trail with Eyewitness Accounts (Hardcover)

The story of the Nez Perce bands of Wallowa Oregon is one of the saddest of the expansion period of the American West. Driven from their homelands by a sneaky treaty they never signed, several bands of Nez Perce were moving reluctantly onto the new, smaller reservation. But a few angry young men left camp, on their own, and killed a white man they knew to be bad to Indians. The U.S. Army responded and thus began the pursuit of the Nez Perce, across Idaho, to Wyoming, and then Montana, over 1100 miles. Eight hundred Nez Perce men, women, and children walked and rode hoping to find a new place to settle where the Army would no longer pursue. But the Army did pursue, and finally caught up with the Nez Perce on a cold October day in Northern Montana, where after a 5 day siege, Chief Joseph finally surrendered to save those that were left, cold, sick, and tired. This book follows the trail, and recounts the history as told by several authors and particpants including General Howard, Yellow Wolf, and some Army Scouts. It is the one book you should read first. Then get out and drive the trail that the Nez Perce rode. I bet you can't drive it in one summer, but they rode that distance, moving camp every day, with the Army shooting at them when ever they didn't move far enough. Chief Joseph wondered when will the white men ever tell the truth. Why is the Indian not allowed to live under the same laws of freedom as the white man.