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I have read the book which is the basis for this article. It is worth reading.

The men of the Corps of Discovery were the Special Forces of today---the best our country had to offer. Jefferson gave Lewis carte blanche to select his men from the Continental Army.

Today, we hike twenty miles in rigid soled boots with state of the art packs on established trails and think we are something special. Lewis' men averaged significantly more than that in mocassins without trails and with heavier and much less manageable loads. They almost starved going over the Divide and, thus weakened by hunger and illness, still shot rapids on the Columbia that even the local Indians wouldn't try.

One of my college professors said that, if you want to experience how difficult the Expedition was, plunge into a mountain stream up to your neck and then try to push a log upstream. He wasn't very far off the mark.