On July 19, 1805, Lewis wrote, "this evening we entered much the most remarkable clifts that we have yet seen. These clifts rise from the water's edge on either side perpendicularly to the height of 1200 feet. Every object here wears a dark and gloomy aspect. The towering and projecting rocks in many places seem ready to tumble on us. The river appears to have forced its way through this immence body of solid rock for the distance of 53⁄4 miles and where it makes its exit below has thrown on either side vast collumns of rocks mountains high… From the singular appearance of this place I called it the gates of the rocky mountains."
Black Sandy Lake Access is a short 0.02 km trail located along the historic Gates of the Rocky Mountains section of the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, featuring dramatic 1,200-foot limestone cliffs rising from the Missouri River. The access point sits at 1,115 meters elevation and provides a gateway to where Meriwether Lewis famously documented one of the expedition's most memorable discoveries.