Where to Find the Lewis & Clark Travel and Educational Websites Linked from LCTA

Updated

The Lewis & Clark Trail Alliance (LCTA) at lewisandclark.org is mainly a hub: it points visitors to two separate sites depending on what you need. For trip planning along the trail, go to lewisandclark.travel. For history and educational material, go to lewis-clark.org. LCTA also offers a Lewis and Clark Travel App for exploring the trail on the go. Use the sections below to pick the right entry point.

The three destinations at a glance

Destination What it is for Where it lives
LCTA main site Alliance news, journal, events, member library lewisandclark.org
Travel website Route and community information for visiting the trail lewisandclark.travel
Educational website Deep history content on the expedition lewis-clark.org
Travel app On-trail exploration from a mobile device Linked from LCTA

Travel planning: lewisandclark.travel

LCTA describes its travel website, the Lewis and Clark Trail Experience (LCTE), as a way to connect contemporary authentic communities and cultures—including tribes whose connections span thousands of years—to historic, vibrant and living landscapes.

  • Use it whether you are traveling the entire length of the Trail or taking a short day trip.
  • The site also includes an LCTE Travel Magazine.
  • LCTA states that your travel experience "can be greatly enhanced" by the tools on this site, so treat it as the starting point for route and stop planning rather than the main LCTA page.

Education and history: lewis-clark.org

The educational website, Discovering Lewis & Clark, is where the historical depth lives.

  • It holds 2,300+ pages covering the Lewis and Clark story.
  • LCTA frames the story as tying together many histories: women's history, American and Native American history, famous people, natural history, and military history.
  • If your goal is research, classroom use, or background reading rather than a trip, start here.

On the trail: the Lewis and Clark Travel App

LCTA promotes a Lewis and Clark Travel App for exploring the trail. It is presented as a companion to the travel website, so use it when you are actually moving along the route rather than planning at a desk.

What stays on the LCTA main site

Some resources are not on the travel or education sites and are only found at lewisandclark.org:

  • William P. Sherman Digital Library — noted as new for members.
  • We Proceeded On — LCTA's quarterly journal, named after a phrase that appears repeatedly in the expedition's journals. Issues one year or older are available online along with bonus content.
  • Events Along the Trail — a listing of trail events.
  • Substack stories — real stories of the Lewis and Clark Trail, with dated posts.
  • Curriculum guide — LCTA's latest guide for taking students through the Corps of Discovery.
  • Land acknowledgement and Native Peoples content, including "Beyond the Bicentennial" and "Tent of Many Voices."

How to choose

  • Planning a trip, short or long: lewisandclark.travel, plus the travel app while on the move.
  • Studying or teaching the expedition: lewis-clark.org for the 2,300+ page archive, and the LCTA curriculum guide for classroom use.
  • Following the Alliance itself: lewisandclark.org for the journal, events, member library, and Substack posts.

One practical note: the journal archive is limited to issues one year or older, so recent issues are not in the online back catalog.