On their return journey, the Corps of Discovery divided into two groups at Traveler's Rest near present-day Lolo, Montana. Captain William Clark and his party traveled through today's Big Hole Valley toward Camp Fortunate to recover their canoes and other possessions hidden the previous summer. On the evening of July 7, 1806, they climbed Big Hole Pass and camped east of the saddle, following an old Indian road. Clark crossed Warm Spring Creek and went southeasterly up Governor Creek and Bull Creek, roughly parallel to Montana Highway 278, then went east over Big Hole Pass near the present-day highway. In his journal that day, he wrote of leaving the beautiful extensive valley he called the hot spring valley and entering a less extensive and much more rigid one on Willards Creek for nearly 12 miles. The party traversed an estimated 164 miles from Traveler's Rest to Camp Fortunate on what Clark called an excellent road that would be an excellent wagon road with only a few trees cut out of the way. On July 5, 1806, Clark also recorded fresh Indian signs where people had been gathering quamash. Camas bulbs and the roots of cous, or bitterroot, were a main vegetable and starchy staple for Northwest Indians and were also used frequently by the expedition, eaten raw, baked, or roasted. During peak flowering in June and July, camas colored the surrounding meadows with a bluish tint.