Idaho - Lolo Motorway and McGruder Road - part 2

[Toy Man]

The McGruder Road:

8/18/2004
Left Fales Flat CG at 7:35. 79726 miles. Rained for about an hour after we got up the next morning then cleared off. We drove over the pass into Idaho (easy - paved both sides) and drove down an easy wide gravel road along deep creek. BIG horse packing camp at Deep Creek and all of the camps from here on had more horse facilities that human. Horse packing is a big time business in this area. There were lot's of signs saying the road was closed due to bridge construction but we kept on driving and the bridge was fine.

9:00 - Magruder Crossing. We took the 25 mile round trip drive up to Paradise along the Selway river. Paradise is the put-in for rafting the Selway river. A dangerous river when it is high. Friend of ours drowned there several months ago.

There was another big sign at the start of the road to Paradise saying the road was closed near Paradise because of more bridge construction. We decided to drive up anyway. Just before Paradise, we turned a corner on the narrow road and came face-to-face with a large truck coming at us. The truck was pulling a flat bed trailer and on the trailer and overhanging it by several feet on each side was the old bridge. A quick backup of about a ? mile to let the truck by and then on up to Paradise. The road by the new bridge was being worked on but the bridge was passable. There is a campground, ranger station and another large horse camp at Paradise. Had lunch and then drove back down along the Selway river to Magruder Crossing and the start of the ?real? Magruder road. Left Paradise at 10:14 and were back at Magruder Crossing and ready to start up Salmon Mt. at 10:52.

The route becomes a narrow, continually twisting, fairly steep hard dirt road climbing thru thick timber. After a good climb, you break out onto a large burned area and continue zigzagging up the mountain. By the time you pass thru the burned area, the road bed has become solid rock and moderately rough. We continued climbing and stopped just below the summit at Observation Point for lunch. Then on to the summit and down. I thought ok, now we will just drop down to a valley and have an easy drive into Elk City.

Hah. We dropped just a short way down the back side of Salmon Mtn. (8200?) and climbed back up Sabe mountain (7900?) and then a long down hill and up a third mountain (Burned Knob ? about 7600?). This climbing and descending was not done at a fast pace. It was mostly just bounce, bounce slowly along. As we started down the back side of Burned Knob the road immediately turned into a wide freshly bulldozed/graded soft dirt surface. This was fine except it had started raining as we were ascending Burned Knob and the dirt was starting to turn to mud. We only had a few slick spots near the bottom of the graded road and then we were back on hard dirt that seemed impervious to the rain. A short stop at the Poet Creek campground at the bottom and then up another hill (much shorter climb) and onto a fairly nice road that continued to improve all the way down the hill to highway 14 at the Red River ranger station. We camped at the Birch Creek CG near the Red River hot springs, about 10 miles up the road from the Red River ranger station. Birch Creek at 4:00pm

Notes: Poet Creek at 2:11. Granite Springs at 2:45. Highway14 (end of the Magruder Road) at 3:25. (111 miles from Fales Flat CG) 7.5 hours total, 6.0 hours driving time. Used a little over a half tank of gas.


8/19/2004
Leave the Birch Creek CG at 7:15. Clear skies. We drive back to Highway 14 and then up to Elk City for gas. Elk City is a small collection of old dilapidated buildings occupied by old dilapidated people. Not the best place I have ever visited.

Then back down the highway to Dixie. Dixie is a just a wide spot at the end of a dirt road but it has been 'discovered' by retirees and vacation home people. NEAT place. Lot's of new log houses, a small store/gas/motel and a few other businesses and friendly people. We liked it a lot. A short stop and then we continued south 27 miles on a small dirt road to Mackay Bar on the Salmon River. No reason except that we had rafted the Salmon before and was just curious to see one of the very few (the only?) places you can actually drive down to the river. The better part of an hour later, we were 3800' above the river and ready to start the steep, winding road down to it. 4 wheel low gear time. Only took us about an hour to drive the 5 miles down. Lunch and then back up. We took the fork below Dixie to Oregrande. Another neat road where we only saw one car and it was parked. Thru the very small town of Oregrande and back to the highway and then back to Kamiah.


Notes: Left Dixie for Mackay Bar at 9:45. 10:57 start down the Mackay Bar grade. Reached the pack bridge at 11:51 ? 2211? feet. Started back up at 12:26 and on the top of the grade at 1:08 ? 6000+?. Junction to Oregrande at 2:12 -5179?. Summit at 2:48 ? 6850?. Highway 14 at 3:46.- 3900?. Kamiah RV park at 5:30 ? 1300? We had just a sprinkle of rain as we were starting back up the Mackay Bar grade but at the Lemon Creek jct. below Dixie it had rained hard. The hard packed dirt road was fine even after the rain.

Big Creek on the way to Oregrande looked like a great fishing river. The road over the mountain to Oregrande passed thru lush meadows and lots of trees with lush grass and other low vegetation on top. Also a couple of decaying mining building just below the summit as we were descending. Long steep twisting drop down to old Oregrande.


8/20/2004
Leave Kamiah at 5:10am
Lewiston ? 7:08
Walla Walla ? 8:55
Umatilla ? 9:55
The Dalles (lunch at Big Jim?s) ? 11:40
Beaverton (gas) ? 1:40
Home ? 1:57 mileage = 80457 Total miles for trip = 1,655.


Note: I have GPS records of this trip in anyone is interested.

[Steve]

Again, thanks for posting this trip report. Excellent information for anybody planning a trip to that area.

Steve

[Jerry]

We drove the Lolo Motorway a couple of years ago with the Backroad Drivers Northwest group starting at Lolo Pass and driving west to Kamiah, Idaho. It was in September and it snowed! Here is the trip report and a couple of pics.

The Lolo Motorway
September 25, 2005

After spending most of Saturday on Idaho's Magruder Road Corridor our mini caravan of three vehicles ended up in Hamilton, Montana. Sunday morning found Rich & Jan from Beaverton, Rob & Kathy from Yakima, Randy from Meacham and myself, Jerry from Yakima, well rested and raring to drive more backroads. Our goal was the Lolo Motorway, a Forest Service road that closely parallels the Lewis & Clark Trail from Lolo Pass on the Idaho/Montana border to Weippe, Idaho.

The Lolo Trail, once the Nez Perce Buffalo Road, later known as the Nez Perce Trail, was used by Indians, trappers, miners and the military. Parts of the trail were used as wagon roads until the Forest Service and the CCC's requested funds to complete a road from Lolo Pass to Weippe, Idaho. The trail is now located within the Nez Perce National Historical Park at the southern end of the Clearwater National Forest. The Lolo Trail area is a National Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. It includes the Lolo Trail Corridor, the Nez Perce and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trails and the Lolo Motorway.

Lewis & Clark followed the original Indian trail in September of 1805, two-hundred years ago this month, and encountered a devastating snow storm which they barely survived. This year is the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark journey and anticipating many travelers, the Forest Service requires a special permit to drive the trail.

Technically the trail starts at Lolo Pass, but thanks to fellow Backroad Drivers Northwest member Kurt from Grants Pass who drove the route a few weeks before, we learned there was a locked gate on the first section of the road so we drove 12 miles west of the pass and entered the Historical Park on FR569 near the Powell Ranger Station.

The first section of road was in fair condition and climbed steadily until it reached the 500 Road on top of the mountain. We hit snow on the way up, but only a couple of inches. The road leveled off at around 6,000 feet elevation. There were plenty of viewpoints, but all we could see were gray snow clouds. It was about 9:00 AM and we were hopeful it would soon burn off.


There were numerous information signs

The old Indian Trail followed the ridge tops where there was less foliage and that was very evident as we drove up one mountain and down the other side, then up another mountain and down the other side. We must have done that at least ten times. Sometimes the road was rocky, sometimes rutted and sometimes completely smooth. In some places the snow cushioned the rocky road surface.

There were ample rest stops and we took advantage of them. All the bouncing and jarring on the rocky road made for frequent stops! It was interesting that most of the rest room facilities were sani-cans rather than pit toilets. Either way, we were happy they were available.


We drove through snow for over 100 miles

Between noon and one-o'-clock the clouds lifted and we were presented with magnificent mountain views. We were near 7,000 feet and right in the middle of a carpet of mountains. The fantastic mountain scenery, the changing fall colors and snow covered forest was gorgeous. And it was time to stop for lunch.

We had a tailgate lunch and sloshed through eight inches of snow which was the deepest of the day. Although we had snow on the trail from one end to the other we faired pretty well with minimal slipping. All of us had four-wheel drive vehicles which were essential for this venture.


Rich & Jan took this pic of Rob's and Jerry's F-150's from their Grand Cherokee

After lunch we continued our trek stopping at all of the many historical information signs along the way. Most of the signs informed us of where the Lewis & Clark party camped on their way to the Pacific AND on their way back home in June of 1806.

The trail was well marked all the way across the mountains until we came to a low elevation intersection on the west end. Here we had a couple of choices, one clear - the other ambiguous, and rather than risking more unmarked roads so late in the afternoon (about 4:30 PM) we took the sure way. We followed an improved gravel road down the mountain to the Clearwater River and Highway 12 near Kooskia, Idaho.

We did it, we drove over one hundred miles of dirt, rock and snow and gained a
newfound appreciation of what the Lewis & Clark party endured two hundred years
ago. Here we said our goodbyes and each of us expressed the same feeling of
accomplishment for having completed the trip.