Northwest Passage Scenic Byway

Traditional tipis dot the landscape of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. But don't be fooled: some are intended as visitor lodging. At Nez Perce National Historical Park in Spalding, in summer you can assist park rangers in demonstrating the proper way to pitch a Nez Perce lodge.

A unit of the National Park Service, this visitor center and museum conveys the history and culture of the Nimiipuu people, and provides an excellent orientation to the features and stories associated with the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.

Idaho's Northwest Passage Scenic Byway receives their designation plaque at the Designation 2002 event at Union Station in Washington DC.

A proud fisherman shows off his catch.

Rafters navigate the class IV Pistol Creek Rapid on the Salmon River.

This photo illustrates a sample Northwest Passage Scenic Byway mapboard placed at key intervals along the byway.

A cowboy heads out of the gates at Border Days Rodeo. Held over the Independence Day holiday weekend, this annual event continues Grangeville's tradition of hosting the oldest rodeo in Idaho. Participants attend and compete from all corners of ranching country.

Eimers Park Visitor Center is operated by the Grangeville Chamber of Commerce, where one can find area information and adjacent Nez Perce National Historical Park sites at Tolo Lake, Whitebird, and Weis Rockshelter. There is also a display of a life-sized wooly mammoth skeleton excavated at Tolo Lake. Stop in and learn more!

Built in the early 1900s, the historic Lochsa Ranger Station is reminiscent of life at isolated forest service stations during the 1920s and 1930s in the intermountain West. This station is preserved and interpreted today by summer volunteers, who can also provide other information of interest to byway motorists.

A Nimiipuu native celebrates the traditional and contemporary culture through costume, music, and dance during the Chief Looking Glass Days held in August at Kamiah.

Located at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers in Lewiston, this bronze piece artistically conveys Nez Perce legend creatures. Dedicated in 2005, this feature is accessible on a paved levee trail near an interpretive display established by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

A dugout canoe rests behind an eduational sign at Canoe Camp. While occupied by ancestors of the Nimiipuu for over 4,000 years, this Nez Perce National Historical Park component site is named for the brief stay of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in September-October 1805. Here the explorers, with native assistance, felled Ponderosa pines and constructed dugout canoes for their continued journey to the Pacific.

Large trees loom in Bernard DeVoto Memorial Grove. American author and historian Bernard DeVoto, a scholar of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited a compilation from the explorers' journals. He found a personal sanctuary in the memorial cedar grove that bears his name--as can you today as you stop along the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.

This pristine view of flora is along the historic Lolo Motorway, a rustic road best suited to high clearance vehicles.

A Nez Perce tribe participates in the Looking Glass Pow Wow in Kamiah, Idaho.

The Northwest Passage Scenic Byway meets the river.

This Northwest Passage Scenic Byway roadsign, showing the byway logo, is located at intervals along the byway and assists travelers with wayfinding.