You're too kind, Mark. I've spent a great deal of time in the southwest corner of Montana, starting with an 8 week field mapping school in '78, so despite the distance from home base, I know the area well. And it's more like 2,400 miles from central NC, but who's counting?
Some ideas for short (or long) day hikes and drive-bys:
Sawtooth Lake-- About 8 miles north from the southern terminus of the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway lies the Grasshopper Inn, the only motel, restaurant, bar, and fuel supply for many miles. Across the road from the Inn is a side road to the Sawtooth Lake trailhead, just a mile or two off of the Byway. The trail is a foot and horse trail of but 4 miles in length but picking up nearly 2,000' in elevation, reaching Sawtooth Lake, a tarn, at around 8,500'. Several segments of the trail are along or in view of classic lateral moraines. I would say the lake is perhaps a couple or three dozen acres in area and is surrounded by above-timberline peaks and scree slopes. It should be a perfect spot to take a pair of binoculars and scan the higher country for sheep. I don't know because I can't stop fishing it long enough to look around a lot. In addition to native cutthroats, there are brook trout, rainbows, grayling, and California Golden Trout in Sawtooth Lake. Given the distance from a trailhead, and the abundance of vehicle-accessible fishing in the area, Sawtooth Lake gets but little pressure. The trout, then, are poorly educated and voracious.
Tower Mountain-- This is a drive-up accessed from the Birch Creek basin along the east side of the East Pioneers (off of I-15 north of Dillon). Views along the road leading in are awesome and include many of the vast Beaverhead River valley north of Dillon. A nearly 360 degree view from the summit includes the east sides of Comet, Torrey, Tweedy, and other glaciated East Pioneer crags. The road from Birch Creek connects to Argenta, thus allowing a through route, but we were blocked by a huge snow bank in mid-July 2011 when last there, so we had to double back to Birch Creek Road to exit. The entire drive is on FS roads and I would not hesitate to take your rig along it.
Comet Mountain-- Comet is accessed from the Byway just above Elkhorn Hot Springs. A road, very steep and fairly rocky, leads up a number of switchbacks to an exploration adit and drill pad above timberline at 9,600'. The last 3 or 4 pitches are pure shelf road and are thus a ton of fun to drive on. Over the decades, I've driven several vehicles up to the adit, including my current truck, a Crew Cab long bed F350. There were a few 7 to 13 point, spotter-assisted turns on the switchbacks, but the big rig made it to the top in 2010. We had to cut away about 80' of snowbank at 9,200' and were the first full-size truck to reach the adit that year. The view from the adit area is stellar, and if you can scree-hop the additional 600' of elevation to the summit, you'll be blown away. The north and east side of Comet is shorn off as if it were a melon with a quarter section cut out of it. The drop off is nearly vertical and drops 1,400' to two tarns below. You're looking at another glacial geology classroom with cirques, tarns, and aretes in abundance. The aretes are knife-edged ridges where two cirques back up to one another or are beside one another. If you don't care to pound the truck up to the adit, and I'd be fairly reluctant to do so bearing a truck camper, you can park below and hoof it up the road. You'll make about the same time walking as driving, anyway, due to the switchbacks and slow-going over the rocks.
Trails of the Rock Creek area--In the northern, lower part of Rock Creek Canyon lies the Welcome Creek Wilderness and a small network of foot trails. The area is accessed by a suspension bridge over Rock Creek at The Dalles. Further upstream (south) another network of trails encircles the Hogback Homestead Cabin and picks up 4,000' of elevation to reach Hogback Point in the John Long Mountains, then loops back to Rock Creek Rd a couple of miles south, near Wyman Creek. This is a long day's hike and I'd be stunned to see anybody on the trail, particularly during the week.
The Lolo Motorway--The Nez Perce Trail followed high ground north of the Lochsa River since the river's canyon was too difficult for travel on horseback. That being the case, it is the exact route taken by Lewis & Clark on both the outbound and homeward legs of their journey. It is also where the Nez Perce came to their aid on the outbound leg and saved their lives by generously providing food and assistance. Today the route is called the Lolo Motorway and is something like 90 miles in length from near Lolo Pass to near Pierce, ID. There are a number of historical markers and viewpoints along the way. This would be another must-see for students of the Lewis & Clark journies. There are downloadable brochures for the Lolo Motorway, too.
Foy
Edited by Foy, 21 July 2013 - 06:46 PM.
