Lolo Pass Visitor Center

Lolo Pass is one of those rare summits that carried three separate epics. In September 1805 Lewis and Clark crossed here half-starved, led by the Nez Perce through snow on trails their guide Walla Walla history remembers as ancient trade routes; returning in June 1806 they waited two weeks for the snow to clear. In 1877 the pass again carried a tragedy, when bands of the Nez Perce under Looking Glass and Chief Joseph crossed eastward here at the start of the flight that ended at Bear Paw. The modern road came last: US-12 was only completed through in 1962, the last major highway link over the northern Rockies, and the log visitor center — built in 1963 with a stone fireplace — opened at the same time. Today it is jointly staffed by the Forest Service and the National Park Service as part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park, with a short interpretive loop through the snow-fence meadows and the Pintlar viewpoint west of the building.