Disasters many kept pace with the unhappy explorers on their way back to Quamash flats after their rebuff at the base of the Bitter Root Mountains.

One of the horses fell down a rough and rocky place, carrying his rider with him; but fortunately neither horse nor man was killed.
Next, a man, sent ahead to cut down the brush that blocked the path, cut himself badly on the inside of his thigh and bled copiously.

The hunters sent out for game returned empty-handed.

The fishermen caught no fish, but broke the two Indian gigs, or contrivances for catching fish, with which they had been provided.

The stock of salt had given out, the bulk of their supply having been left on the mountain.