From Hell’s Gate State Park in Lewiston we continued east on route 95. The Nez Perce National Historical Site just off route 95 is a worthwhile stop, with another sad story of how the Native American people where mistreated by the American Government and the early settlers.

The Lewis and Clark expedition explored this area in 1805 and were helped by the Nez Perce. Then in an 1855 treaty the Nez Perce territory was greatly reduced until 1877 when their territory was cut down even more because gold was discovered on their land. This sparked a war in which the American government quickly overwhelmed, killed and displaced the remaining Nez Perce.

As I said, it’s a sad story and worth a visit, there’s a short film covering the history, a museum, gift shop and if you have your national parks passport you can get it stamped as well.

We continued east on route 95 into what seemed like going back into another time dimension. The town of Winchester (named after the Winchester riffle) and the state park associated with it are nestled in a rugged and heavily forested area and is definitely a hidden gem.

The town is small, population 340, but has a public library, a gas station, a few small businesses and a couple restaurants. Try not to visit on Tuesday or Wednesday, almost everything seems to be closed.

The town has its roots in lumber and the town moved three times during its history because of deforestation to its current location within the Nez Perce Reservation because of a declaration by President Cleveland in 1895 that said anyone could settle on the reservation. Come along as we do a little exploring of Winchester, Idaho…

Tai and Jane left us for a couple days after Winchester to go back to Montana. They liked Montana so much during our visit there that they decided to buy land and build a tiny home.

In our next post we travel alone to Cascade Lake State Park…