Posted on 08/19/2007 3:23:42 PM PDT by Jeff Head
In the mid 1990s, while living in southwest Montana, I did a lot of hunting and exploring around the mountains in the area. This included those ranges bordering the Beaverhead, Ruby, Red Rock, and Big Hole Rivers. I also got up on the Bitteroot and over the mountains onto the Selway which is where this web page and story has its origins. I learned of a road out of Darby, Montana that followed the Nez Perce indian trail over the monuntains into Idaho, which conected to a primitive road that continued across the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Chuirch - River of no Return Wilderness areas over near Elk City, Idaho. I decided I wanted to travel this road, so I gathered up my gear and told my wife where I was going and started off. I got over to the Selway River only to find the wilderness road closed. This was during the Clinton administration and there were quite a lot of such road closures during that era.
Fast forward to July of this year (2007). Now living in southwest Idaho, I was recently asked by a friend if I had ever taken the Magruder Corridor Road in Idaho. I told him did not know the road, but when he described it coming off of the Elk City road and going over to Montana across the Selway, I immediately thought of my failed attempt twelve years earlier. It is the same road. This web page is dedicated to the two day trip that my 17 year old son and I made on July 21st and 22nd.
The Magruder Road itself, FS no. 468, runs from just south of the old Red River Ranger Station in Idaho, over to Darby, Montana. About 120 miles of no services whatsoever. The actual wilderness road is about 90 miles, starting from FS No. 223 just south of the old Red River Ranger Station, to the start of pavement climbing away from the Selway River into the Bitterroot Mountains. This pavement is shortlived, maybe ten miles, and then reverts back to gravel, but from that point on it is in very good shape and plenty wide enough for two cars.
The wilderness road is a rough, one lane road, with some parts primitive, but nothing that any well maintained four wheel drive vehicle with good tires and suspension cannot handle. The spurs, or side roads, however, are very primitive where good clearance, good tires, and a heavier frame are required for the four wheel low driving. Carry a good spare on this trip.
CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP REPORT INCLUDING 90 STUNNING PHOTOS I TOOK
A few examples of the photographs from this trip follow:
Letting them experience things like this and do the work has always been one of the best ways of learning. I try and be there for any truly catastophic problems...but it is good not to step in too soon.
Half of learning (and for me its been more than half by far I am afraid) is learning from the mistake of doing it wrong and then regrouping and figuring out how to do it right. Those lessons are rarely forgotten.
That's great country over there between Tetonia, ID and Jackson. Heck, you draw a line from Livingston, MT to Henry's Lake and take it Southeast from there to a line from Cody, Wy to Afton, Wy and you have some of the most beautiful country on God's green earth.
Bookmark.
Thanks. Hope you get a chance to get back and read the story and view the pictures. It was a great experience.
Jeff, Thanks so much for posting this. I must take that journey soon.
These people are going in there...many times way late in the game after they have burned several days, and then "managing" the fires by digging little 12-18" wide breaks that have no hope of containing the fires. In most cases they REFUSE to use bulldozers because, they say, it will damage the environment and takes 8 years to recover the 12-20 foot wide fire break.
But those fire breaks WORK and could have arrested these fires very early on. I work with guys who spent their lives in this back country and if you had a hundred men and twelve bulldozers, most of this could have been arrested and stopped long ago.
Now we have literally hundreds of thousands of acres burned and so much resource literally gone up in smoke. It will be decades at least before it is back...and some areas will not come back and will leave pristine forests looking like the country around Lucky Peak Dam. It is a shame and a sham I will tell you.
Myself and others in our agency have asked these incident commanders as we have gotten access into some of the areas why they do not use the dozers. When they give us the pat answer of hurting the ground for 6-8 years, we immedialtely ask if letting two hundred thousand acres burn that will take 20-30 years to grow back...if it can...is then better than letting nature repair a 20 foot swath. They never have an answer for that...there are always pregnant pauses.
Anyhow...just had to vent. It's begging for an investigation and an outcry.
Inspiring post!
Enjoy the countryside.....
That was 1979 - Little to worry from critters. Nowdays?
Bear & cougar are more likely. Wolves? Well, they are being re-introduced to Yellowstone & I’ve never been able to herd wolves into staying within a Park boundary.
Thanks for the B2FUL and interesting travelog.
You have a lovely home.
Very cool, thanks.
So, now I'm a displaced Texan in Idaho just trying to spread the good word...hehehe.
Thank you. It was a very neat experience and will make for very long term memories.
“IdaHome” ~ great term “;^)
Thanks for sharing your Big Back Yard.
Another BUMP to you in case you missed this. I thought you and yours would enjoy seeing this...and perhaps the next time y’all are over Montana way, you might make the treck.
Over near Malta, Idaho, again out in a remote area of southern Idaho, there is a road called “Idahome” road. It crosses I84 as that freeway heads up to Sweetzer Summit and over into Utah.. I have to admit taking the name from there.
It’s a good’un, wherever it comes from!
You have a way of making FRiends feel like family, taking us all with you on the road. That pre-dawn mountain shot you took reminds me of the Grand Canyon at dawn, an unforgettable experience (and my favorite place in the whole world).
Thanks for the heads up Jeff.
These pictures are really nice.
Thank you my FRiend. it was an exciting and memorable experience.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Still time to enjoy in 2011.
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