About this place
Congress created the Nez Perce National Historic Trail in 1986.
It runs from Wallowa Lake in Oregon, across Idaho, to the Bear Paw National Historic Trail at Chinook, Montana.
Before Lewis and Clark, and after them, the Nez Perce homeland covered central Idaho, northeast Oregon and southeast Washington.
They hunted here, fished, collected camas and biscuitroot, and raised their children on knowledge built up over thousands of years.
Then fur trappers, traders, settlers, soldiers, missionaries and farmers moved in and through. The Nez Perce and their land changed a great deal.
Tension grew.
Wanting to avoid a fight, the Nez Perce signed a treaty creating a large reservation over their traditional homeland.
Gold was found inside that reservation in 1863. Miners and settlers moved in, and a new treaty cut the reservation by 90 percent.
Some tribal leaders said no.
In May of 1877 the government ordered the non-treaty Nez Perce onto the smaller reservation by June 14.
Violence broke out. Chief Joseph and other leaders, Toohoolhoolzote among them, decided to run for Canada instead.
That year 750 Nez Perce set off with 2,000 of their own horses. Two-thirds of them were women, children, the elderly and the sick.
They fought and evaded more than 2,000 Army soldiers and other pursuers, over 1,100 miles.
They surrendered at last at Bear Paw, Montana, just short of the Canadian border.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Maps of the route are on the trail’s own website.
Coordinates 45.99888889, -116.6475
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- Snowhole Rapids Wilderness Study Area Directions
- Nez Perce National Historical Park Directions
- Lewis and Clark Back Country Byway Directions
- Tolo Lake Directions
- Dworshak Dam Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Cottonwood, ID Directions
- Grangeville, ID Directions
Grangeville is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.