On the morning of September 15, 1805, Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery left their Colt Killed Camp near what is now the Powell Ranger Station, expecting a short portage from the headwaters of the Missouri to the headwaters of the Columbia but instead facing severe hardship in a seemingly endless sea of mountains. Starving, cold, and wet, they followed an Indian road downstream to a traditional fishing place near present-day Wendover Campground, then began a dangerous climb up steep slopes where horses slipped and rolled down hills, damaging equipment and injuring some animals. After reaching the top, they spent the night at Snowbank Camp on the main Indian trail, unable to find water and surviving on a little portable soup while enduring hunger, cold, snow, and wet conditions. With provisions running short and spirits falling, William Clark went ahead with an advance party on September 18, 1805, to scout a route out of the mountains and hunt for game. On September 20, Clark and his hunting party met the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people on what is today called the Weippe Prairie, and the rest of the party joined them on September 22. From September 24 through October 7, the expedition descended into the Clearwater Valley, built canoes for ten days near present-day Orofino, cached supplies, left horses with the Nimiipuu, and continued the westward leg of the journey in dugout canoes.