Shallow water delayed the steamer's progress on May 14 above the mouth of the Niobrara. When the Yellow Stone ran aground on a submerged sandbank, several of its passengers went ashore to stretch their legs and explore the banks. While Bodmer made another of his Missouri River landscapes at this place, Maximilian caught a softshelled turtle and collected a specimen of wild turnip to add to his North American collection

The Yellow Stone again moved upriver on May 22. Shortly after noon it approached the Bijoux Hills, in the present state of South Dakota. According to Maximilian, who mentioned in his journal that Bodmer made a watercolor view of these hills, they were named for a clerk of the American Fur Company who had spent several winters in this area and had later moved upriver to live among the Mandan Indians. Here the steamer again ran aground and for the rest of the day succeeded in moving only about a mile further upstream.

The Yellow Stone passed the mouth of the Platte on the morning of May 3. In his journal entry for the day, Maximilian indicated that the Platte had two mouths and that the first was "separated from the second and larger mouth by a small island." Bodmer's view of the river mouth probably represents the larger of the two channels opening into the Missouri. This afternoon, the travelers reached Bellevue, Major Dougherty's post on the river below present-day Omaha, Nebraska.

Navigating between the rafts of driftwood on the Missouri became increasingly difficult as the Yellow Stone plied upriver toward the mouth of the Platte. On April 26 it passed the mouth of the Nemaha River, or "Grand Nemaha" as Maximilian calls it, and again encountered snags and sandbanks.

Maximilian's report of Bodmer's trip to New Orleans includes few exact references to dates. Fort Adams, located about midway between Natchez and Baton Rouge, was sighted on the afternoon of the same day that the Homer stopped at Natchez for fuel. The steamer passed the mouth of the Red River during the night, and early the following morning arrived at Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital city. That afternoon, either January 10 or 11, it anchored for the night a few miles above New Orleans.

Maximilian described the area near the mouth of the Ohio in March as "a monotonous land with high forest." He noted the presence of numerous snags in the water and in commenting upon the difficulties of river travel observed that "here one may navigate by daylight only, as the water level is too low."