Follow the trail of Lewis and Clark drama

If you want real-life drama, you might want to take a trip back in time to the pivotal exploration of the West.

This summer marks the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's long, arduous and sometimes dangerous journey through Montana two centuries ago.

The explorers spent more time in Montana than any other state, and they had plenty of adventures and misadventures along the way.

If you've been following the journal excerpts that run in the Inter Lake every day, you've noticed June 1805 was a wild month for the Corps of Discovery.

For example:

. On June 7, two explorers barely avoided plunging over a 90-foot cliff into the Missouri River.

. On June 14, Meriwether Lewis, charged by a grizzly bear - "he pitched at me, open mouthed and full speed" - had to sprint 80 yards and dive into the river to escape the bear. Several other expedition members had close encounters with the great bruins as well.

. On June 16, Lewis fretted that Sacagawea was near death from an abdominal infection. She eventually recovered, because of (or in spite of) wilderness medical treatment that included bleeding her and giving her concoctions ranging from opium to sulfuric acid.

. On June 23, Lewis wrote about the men's travails during the brutal portage around the river's falls: "Their fatiegues are incredible; some are limping from the soreness of their feet, others faint and unable to stand for a few minutes, with heat and fatiegue, yet no one complains, all go with cheerfullness."

. On June 29, William Clark and four others, including Sacagawea and her child, narrowly escaped a flash flood that filled a ravine with 15 feet of water.

There were other challenges, too: mosquitoes, rattlesnakes, cactus, hailstorms and rugged terrain, to name just a few.

But there were moments of beauty, too:

. On June 13, Lewis reached the Great Falls of the Missouri, which he called "the grandest sight I ever beheld."

. On June 18, Clark had similar praise when he spied another waterfall: "This is one of the grandest views in nature and by far exceeds any thing I ever Saw."

Through it all, Lewis, Clark and their intrepid band persevered.

It's still a marvel what the explorers accomplished with primitive equipment entering an uncharted wilderness - without the benefit of cell phones, GPS devices, motorized travel, sophisticated weapons or any modern conveniences.

They did it the hard way.

This summer is a good time to look back and renew our admiration for the accomplishments of that rugged band of men (and one woman and a child) 200 years ago.

Theirs is a real adventure story, not the contrived mass-media creations (i.e. "Survivor," "Fear Factor," "The Amazing Race") that pass for drama in today's world.

Read the journals and reflect on the incredible feats of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as it forged its way across the continent and set the stage for the opening of the West.