"When the American West was truly wild country," says artist Howard Terpning, "sometimes traveling on horseback was very difficult, if not impossible. Dense forests, and fallen timbers often required riders to dismount and lead their horses through a passage that under normal conditions wouldn't even be considered. In this case, these Crow warriors have found the forest so dense that passing through on horseback was out of the question, so their line of least resistance was forging ahead through icy cold water and slippery boulders.