On Friday, July 19, 1805, after the difficult portage around the five falls of the Missouri River, the Corps of Discovery continued their journey toward the Pacific Ocean. Following the Missouri River into what Captain Meriwether Lewis called the "gates of rocky mountains," the expedition had just encountered a small section of the Rocky Mountains and were soon to discover the impressive span of peaks they would have to cross before the onslaught of winter. Their difficult journey into the Rocky Mountains had now begun.