In June 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began its homeward journey over the Lolo Trail in good spirits. Although the men were well fed, rested, and had 66 horses to ride and carry their gear, heavy rain had made the trails very slippery, several horses fell without injury, and fallen timber made travel slow and difficult. After passing Collins Creek, now called Lolo Creek, and moving through heavily forested land, the party camped at dark near a small prairie where there was plenty of grass for the horses. Captain Meriwether Lewis noted several species of pine there and observed that the rich soil had a red cast like lands he knew from Virginia. On June 15, 1806, Lewis recorded that after waiting for the morning rain to ease, the party set out at 10 A.M., passed a little prairie, found deer killed by the hunters, reached Collins' Creek where the hunters had killed another deer and seen two large bears, one black and one white, then continued up the creek and through high broken country to its easterly fork, crossing the creek three times before camping near a small prairie in the bottom land.