Customer Reviews

Traveling the Lewis & Clark Trail (FalconGuide)

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A friend and I did the L&C trail last summer. We took this guide and some others. This was *by far* the best guide. We literally would not have been able to find some sites without it. We came to trust its advice so much that we consistently asked each other what "Julie" had to say about various parks, campsites, etc. I can't imagine doing the trail without this book.

Julie Fanselow's Year 2000 edition of her popular travel guide to the 7500-mile Lewis and Clark trail is a meaty, detailed, and carefully researched volume. It nonetheless manages to be concise and reader-friendly with some new amenities such as a foldout cover map and a helpful index. The book retains a great bonus feature, a color photo portfolio of trail scenery that is a major inducement to start packing. It also contains extensive black and white photography of trail highlights and clear maps for the auto traveler.

The Lewis and Clark expedition itself was preeminently a river trip. Accordingly, Ms. Fanselow devotes careful attention to on-the-water opportunities for the traveler from St. Louis to the Columbia River, providing canoe outfitter lore and contact information for the Missouri, Salmon, Clearwater, and Columbia Rivers, among others. Those who want to put a paddle in the water will find the resources within the pages of this guide. I met the author in the summer of 2000 in her role as the featured Lewis and Clark interpreter for a three-day guided canoe trip through the White Cliffs of the Missouri River by River Odysseys West. Ms. Fanselow also recommends a wide selection of other reputable guides, including the venerable Larry and Bonnie Cook of Missouri River Outfitters.

Outfitters offer a wide variety of options from fully guided tours to shuttle service for your own canoe. They cater for tastes ranging from the paddler seeking an hour of solitude or a sunset on quiet water to those craving adrenaline spikes in pushy whitewater rapids. For those wanting drier means of exploration, Ms. Fanselow describes a number of tours by motor vehicle, mountain bike, or horseback, particularly in the vicinity of the Lolo Trail. Some are staged from guest ranches or B&Bs where a traveler can satisfy a number of needs at one stop.

Ms. Fanselow also points out the diversions that can break the routine: a St. Louis Cardinals game or a visit to an art museum, an outlet mall, a state capitol, a frontier mining town, or a buffalo ranch. The author does not neglect the rich Native American legacy, and related trail sites, that are an integral part of the Lewis and Clark story

The bicentennial years of 2003-2006 are expected to bring a major influx of tourists to the trail. Trail enthusiasts more concerned with a quality experience than with standing in a particular spot precisely two hundred years after Lewis and Clark did may want to dig into this guide now and consider exploring the trail in 2001 and 2002.

After two 1999 trips on the trail, relying on an earlier edition of this book, I felt I had begun to shed my novice status as a trail buff when my own photo album sprouted duplicates of many of the photographs in the guide. Absent Sacagawea, Julie Fanselow's fine guidebook is the best trail companion a traveler can have for a memorable Lewis and Clark experience.

Traveling The Lewis And Clark Trail served as our family "bible" for retracing the Lewis and Clark trail (July 2004). While we had several guidebooks, we constantly asked "What does Julie say ... ?" Her recommended itinerary was very useful and served as the starting point for our planning. Overall, we found it very clear and accurate. While the book does not focus on "roughing it," we were especially pleased with the coverage of camping and hiking options along the trail.

We enjoyed having Julie along. (She was voted honorary member of the family.)

With Julie and a copy of Lewis and Clark's journals, you'll be ready for your own Journey of Discovery.

Now in an expanded and updated bicentennial edition, Traveling The Lewis And Clark Trail by travel author Julie Fanselow is an invaluable and "user friendly" resource that modern-day enthusiasts can use to retrace the route of the two famous early American explorers commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson after acquiring the Louisiana Purchase from the French. Filled with from cover to cover with authoritative information concerning activities, attractions, recommended itineraries, maps, black-and-white photographs, and more, Traveling The Lewis And Clark Trail is a comprehensive and enthusiastically recommended guide for any vacationer seeking to retrace footsteps of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their companions.

Julie's book covers the Trail very well. Very informative and illustrated. It covers all of the major sites as well as minor ones in great detail. This book is well worth purchasing if you plan on doing any traveling along the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Julie Fanselow has created an exciting trip ticket for actually experiencing a great event in our national heritage: the Lewis and Clark Trail. Taking the facts and original words of Lewis and Clark and setting them into present-day vacation timeframes and accomodations makes this a wonderful guidebook to great family adventure. It's a volume I'll return to over and over again as our family enjoys sections of trail.

This is an excellent book if you are planning to drive the trail. It lays out a daily schedule with places of interest, miles to next stop, and how long it should take you. I was very happy with the purchase.

This was a used book and it was in excellent condition. I was very pleased with my purchase from Best Bargain Books.

This book served as a fantastic guide for our trip across the US following the steps of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Points of interest were described in detail and accurate directions were given to reach out-of-the-way locations. This is an impressive book that anyone interested in the Lewis and Clark expedition ought to read to appreciate the hardships and adventures endured by the brave men in the party.

As others have noted, a well researched and well organized guide. There's now a competing publication endorsed by Stephen Ambrose, whose book "Undaunted Courage" sparked renewed national interest in Lewis and Clark. After browsing that one, published by Montana Magazine in a magazine format, I can report that 1) it has advertising, and 2) it omits details found in Julie Fanselow's book. Stick with Julie.

I do hope she has an updated edition in the works for the upcoming Lewis and Clark bicentennial. A few points of information need to be added or changed to keep pace with developments. For instance: starting in 2003, access to the Lolo Motorway, the L&C route from Montana to Idaho, will be by permit only.