The only real suffering was that which occasionally befell someone who got lost, and was out for days at a time, until he exhausted all his powder and lead before finding the party.
Crossing the Mountains.
Fall had nearly come when they reached the head-waters of the Missouri.
The end of the holiday-time was at hand, for they had before them the labor of crossing the great mountains so as to strike the head-waters of the Columbia.

Their success at this point depended somewhat upon the Indian wife of the Frenchman who had joined them at Mandan.

She had been captured from one of the Rocky Mountains tribes and they relied on her as interpreter.

Partly through her aid, and partly by their own exertions, they were able to find, and make friends with, a band of wandering Shoshones, from whom they got horses.

Having cached their boats and most of their goods they started westward through the forest-clad passes of the Rockies; before this they had wandered and explored in several directions through the mountains and the foot-hills.
The open country had been left behind, and with it the time of plenty.
In the mountain forests the game was far less abundant than on the plains and far harder to kill; though on the tops of the high peaks there was one new game animal, the white antelope-goat, which they did not see, though the Indians brought them hides.