Explore the Lewis and Clark Trail

Discover all eleven interpretive panels located on the Missouri River in South Dakota. Explorers Lewis and Clark began their famous journey in 1804, now you can begin your own journey in their footsteps.

Traveling up the Missouri River in a specially designed keelboat and two pirogues, the expedition arrived in present-day South Dakota in late August. It was the beginning of America's Western frontier. The expedition's arrival on South Dakota's High Plains marked the start of numerous adventures involving people, places and animals that were unknown to the intrepid explorers.

At Vermillion, members of the expedition hiked to the top of Spirit Mound, a hill reportedly inhabited by tiny devils armed with spears. The captains held their first meeting with the Yankton Sioux near present-day Yankton. The men discovered prairie dogs and pronghorn further up the river. At Fort Pierre, the expedition had a crucial meeting with the Tetons. And, near Mobridge, the expedition met with the Arikaras for the first time.

Throughout their stay, the captains' journal entries for this region described lush vegetation and an abundance of wildlife, including "barking squirrels" (prairie dogs) and buffalo herds numbering in the thousands.

Nearly 200 years later, travelers to the Great Lakes Region can experience this same natural beauty and strong American history along South Dakota's Lewis and Clark Trail. The trail follows the Missouri River's path through the state and leads to adventures unknown!