By traveling east of the Little Rockies, Miles hoped to screen his presence from the Nez Perces while his scouts ranged far and wide among the high points of that range seeking the people. [44] "Every precaution was taken to conceal the command as far as possible, and the march was made with all the celerity and secrecy practicable," he recalled. [45] Friday, September 28, was windy and cold, and the troops arose at 3:00 a.m. to build fires of buffalo chips for cooking breakfast. They continued on the prairie, approaching the eastern flanks of the "rough-looking" Little Rockies and spotting a "herd" of twenty bears about two miles from their column. From the narrow valley of an affluent of Beaver Creek "choked by the growth of cactus and sage-brushes," the soldiers began climbing the rolling ground near the foot of the mountains. Long described them thus:

[They rise] to the height of nearly 1,000 feet, impress all with a lavish display of grand and imposing scenery. The whitish precipitous rocky face of the range, checkered by the sunlight and shadow, is relieved by the warm gray lichens which cover it in spots, and the sparkle of tiny streams of water that trickle down its surface. The hardy pine crowns its summit and flourishes in the grand solitudes and silent wilderness of the comparatively unknown region. [46]

The command traced around the northern slopes and through a pass—perhaps following the upper North Fork of Beaver Creek—to reach Little Peoples Creek and its tributaries. That evening, after having gone twenty-eight miles, the soldiers camped along a stream with plenty of wood and grass nearby. [47] Probably sometime on the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth, the two couriers, Charles Bucknam and William Gantes, sent by Major Ilges, reached Miles with direct information about the course of the Nez Perces after they left Cow Island. [48]

On Saturday, the twenty-ninth, after carefully extinguishing all fires before dawn, the command resumed its march northwest. Game abounded, with large herds of deer, antelope, and buffalo on every side as the men navigated the drainage of Little Peoples Creek and approached the southwest side of Three Buttes, a dominating landmark that afforded a sweeping view in all directions. Lieutenant Long was among those who climbed the highest peak. "The Bear's Paw Mountains are plainly seen stretching toward the southwest and the Little Rockies, a little east of north, to the northeast [sic—southeast], and many miles distant, the dim outline of Wood Mountains in the British possessions are seen on the horizon." [49] In the afternoon, the weather turned colder and intermittent rain turned to snow as the column drew nearer to the Bear's Paws. "Fortunately for us the clouds drifted very low and thus shielded us from observation," recalled Captain Godfrey. [50]

Sensing his closing proximity to the Nez Perces, Miles sent his scouts to range in all directions over the countryside and "to be circumspect" in finding some sign of the people's impending arrival or recent passage. "Yellowstone" Kelly described the meticulous search for the elusive tribesmen on the twenty-ninth:

Beyond People's Creek to the left extended a broken plain to the foot of the Bear Paw Mountains, hazy and dim in the distance. From the Bear Paw to the Missouri every ridge was scrutinized for signs of travelers, for it was apparent that no great company of people with a multitude of live stock could conceal from view their movement on that open plain, nor would they try, expecting pursuit only from the rear. We looked long and earnestly, but no object appeared to move, not even buffaloes where one might expect plenty. [51]

Several inches of snow had accumulated by the time the troops, after twenty-six miles, encamped among the foothills along a fork of Peoples Creek, probably within fifteen miles of the Nez Perce village on Snake Creek. Again without wood (although a few men went into the mountains in search of it), the troops built fires fueled with buffalo chips. Their tents having remained with the wagons, they prepared for an uncomfortable night. That afternoon, a courier rode in from General Howard with dispatches telling of that officer's position near Carroll and of his decision to terminate his campaign, send his own cavalry home, and keep Sturgis's battalion, along with his own infantry, on the Missouri River. Still driven by the potential of a Lakota presence as much as a desire to stop the Nez Perces, Miles responded that he hoped "to prevent their forming a junction with Sitting Bull" and urged Howard to keep on the trail. But the reality was otherwise. Howard's message "made it clear," recalled Miles, "that whatever encounters we might now have with the Nez Perces, we were entirely beyond support." [52]

In fact, on the twenty-ninth, a major clash with those tribesmen grew increasingly imminent. Lieutenant Maus with some soldiers and civilian scouts, operating a considerable distance southwest of Miles's force as it crossed the prairie from the Little Rockies, came upon fifteen or twenty Nez Perce warriors leading some ponies and opened a running engagement with them. Maus thought that two of the warriors had been wounded in the exchange of fire, and his men captured fourteen ponies. Late in the day, they and some of the Cheyennes returned to Miles to report the Nez Perces' trail directly in his left front. Miles sent Maus and two soldiers back out with Kelly, Corporal John Haddo of Company B, Fifth Infantry, and Milan Tripp and William F. Schmalsle, both civilian scouts, to renew their survey of the country; they searched until dark, finally camping in a fine, cold mist. [53] But a few miles away, in the closing hours of September 29, Miles and his men camped in the shadow of the Bear's Paw Mountains, awaiting anxiously for whatever the morrow might bring.

In entering the country lying between the Little Rocky and Bear's Paw mountains, the Nez Perces and Miles's troops penetrated lands more or less permanently inhabited by three mobile tribes not always friendly to each other, the River Crows, the Assiniboines, and the Gros Ventres (Atsinas). The country was well known for its rich game resources, particularly buffalo and antelope, that gave sustenance to these native peoples. Other regional tribes, such as the Flatheads, Lakotas, Blackfeet, Plains Crees, and Yanktonais Sioux, motivated by trade and subsistence needs, frequently hunted there and their presence variously inspired armed collisions with each other as well as with the traditional occupants. Like some other Columbia Plateau tribes, the Nez Perces found the area accommodating and usually passed through during their seasonal trans-Rocky Mountain buffalo-hunting excursions. Historically, the Nez Perces factored into this mix, carrying on an intense rivalry with the Blackfeet, in particular, that included open warfare. Their relationships with other transient and settled tribes in the area alternated between friendship and hostility, depending on the economics of game availability, their relative affinity for the U.S. government, and their proximity to each other. [54]

The Bear's Paw Mountains provided the Nee-Me-Poo with ample game as well as outlying buttes and ridges high enough to discover approaching enemies while affording a visual shield to their presence. The Bear's Paws rise sharply from the surrounding plain and stretch approximately twenty miles north-to-south and about forty east-to-west. Appearing from afar as a cluster of partly interconnected conical volcanic peaks, the Bear's Paws, in fact, constitute an elevated, dissected tract of ridges rather than a true mountain range. Their grass-covered slopes exhibit occasional breaks of contrasting dark volcanic rock, while aspen and cottonwoods dot their valleys. Their highest peak, Baldy Mountain (formerly called Bearpole Peak), ascends to 6,916 feet in the western sector; most of the other peaks stand well under 6,000 feet in elevation, and those composing the easternmost are considerably lower. The highest prominences on the northeastern edge of the Bear's Paws are McCann Butte (formerly Eagle Butte), rising about 900 feet above the plain, and Miles Butte (formerly Gray Butte), about 1,500 feet, two miles directly south. From the high western core of the cluster, streams radiate in all directions but trend toward the Missouri River, to the south, and to Milk River, about twenty miles north. Snake Creek heads in the northern part of the mountains, not far from Peoples Creek, the major artery transecting them, and courses through the foothills and rolling prairie northeast to Milk River. [55]

It was at Snake Creek that the Nee-Me-Poo, after skirting the eastern and northeastern sides of the Bear's Paws, established their camp on September 29. In the early afternoon, the convoy of families and animals paused to dry hides and meat of some buffalo killed at the site by advance scouts as they came north from the Missouri River. Only the evening before had their scouts reported seeing people moving at a great distance from the tribesmen, but they could not confirm they were soldiers. As Yellow Bull remembered:

We discussed it and there arose a dispute. Not knowing anything about the presence of Miles' troops, one side said it could not be Howard, for we knew the worn-out condition of his men and horses; therefore it must be other Indians moving camp. The other side said they did not like to take the risk and insisted that scouts be sent back to find out, but they were not sent. [56]

Yellow Bull also recalled that almost everyone wanted to continue, realizing that Canada still lay some distance away, but following a fractious interlude, Looking Glass—who wanted to stop—again influenced the council of leaders. He prevailed, and the halt was made. Perhaps more important, some of the horses were experiencing a painful sickness in their hooves (possibly the same affliction affecting the army mounts) and the Nee-Me-Poo leaders wanted to let them feed on the plentiful grass. [57]