NF 500 The Lolo Motorway

[Kent R]

Thanks for the trip info its on my list now.

 

[britz]

Thanks for the trip info its on my list now.

You should stop by the cabin, my BF is a retired fire cpt. from South Placer Fire, and grew up in Placer.

 

[britz]

Heads up for anyone wanting to do the Lolo and/or Magruder corridor this summer. Highway 12, which bisects ID from the MT to WA state lines will have delays of 2+ hours starting Monday, July 9th. The highway will be down to a single lane with pilot cars, with an average of a 2+ hour delay between Kooskia, ID and the MT state line,

Given the drive from Kooskia to MT is ~2.5 hrs normally, many locals will start using the Lolo Motorway as an alternate route to Montana, expect more traffic than usual this season.

As of today, parts of the Motorway are still snowed in, hoping to get past Rocky Ridge Lake in the next week or so.

-Britz

 

[Lindsey]

Thanks for the pics and details. Went on that trail middle of October 2017 in the middle of night. Was an awesome experience and very very long unexpected drive. My husband and I took a random road and landed us on this and went just went with it and had lots of fun. Started on the road about 6pm from the Powell, Idaho side and got to Kamiah, Idaho around 2 am.

 

[California Overland]

View attachment 18096 The Lolo Motorway (NF500) follows the Lewis and Clark trail across Idaho. There is numerous historical markers along the route to stop and brush up on your history. We traveled the trail west to east. There is one section that is rocky, and could be intimidating to some, but it's pretty easy. Stock rigs won't have much of a problem. I don't know what the road is like when it is wet, but it gets pretty dusty in dry weather.
I chose to take Hwy 11 from Greer ID west to Weippe I'd. The Hwy turns north in Weippe, but continue straight onto Musselshell Rd. Musselshell Rd will wind around until it changes into 100, then into Lolo Creek. NF500 is just to the north of the Lolo Creek Campground. We spent the next two days exploring the Motorway. The only other traffic we saw were other overlanders on motorcycles.
There is dispersed camping all along the route. Some even have primitive rest rooms. Rocky Rigde campground has nice picnic tables and a stellar view. There are numerous side trips along the way, all of them have spectacular views. We found our campsite on one such side trip. The lookout on Castle Butte has a fire lookout to rent for the night, (contact recreation.gov for info) and a few dispersed spots. One spot is a hunting camp, it is on the west side and a short way from the trail. We chose to sleep along the road so we could get to the lookout for sunrise. (Pics to come).
There is a very nice campsite on NF588, on a small lake. We decided to drive 588 to the end and we're not disappointed. I believe it is 4 miles to the end. And plan on stopping at Indian Postoffice, another great lunch spot. We were low on gas, so we took NF569 out to Lochsa Lodge. Then over the Pass and into Missoula MT. I have already bought gas cans and holders for next time!
I would plan on three or four days to do it again. The Magruder could be added in as well.

@Captain Chaos, thanks for this write up and side trip advice. We're looking at doing the Idaho BDR North- South in late July and the Lolo and Magruder sections were the two parts that were giving me pause. Since the route was designed by motorcycles in mind I was concerned that an FJ Cruiser with a rock crawler trailer might have some difficulty with these two sections. But I've since seen a number of YouTube vids of the Magruder being done with a similar set up as mine so I'm not too worried about that part.

I haven't seen many vids though of ppl in trucks with trailers doing the Lolo as I have of the ADV riders. So that section still gives me a little concern.

Assuming these two sections are clear of snow and dead fall by late July, how many days should we look to spend on the ID BDR doing the Lolo-Magruder loop from roughly Pierce to Elk City?
Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Sandpoint Steve]

@Captain Chaos, thanks for this write up and side trip advice. We're looking at doing the Idaho BDR North- South in late July and the Lolo and Magruder sections were the two parts that were giving me pause. Since the route was designed by motorcycles in mind I was concerned that an FJ Cruiser with a rock crawler trailer might have some difficulty with these two sections. But I've since seen a number of YouTube vids of the Magruder being done with a similar set up as mine so I'm not too worried about that part.

I haven't seen many vids though of ppl in trucks with trailers doing the Lolo as I have of the ADV riders. So that section still gives me a little concern.

Assuming these two sections are clear of snow and dead fall by late July, how many days should we look to spend on the ID BDR doing the Lolo-Magruder loop from roughly Pierce to Elk City?
Thanks for any and all advice.

We took 6 overlanders there in 2017 including an Avalanche pulling a Mobile 1 bother trails are no problem. We did many offshoots Burnt Knob was the most challenging, and it was also a peace of cake. Coming from the north in the ID BDR you come right past out little inland NW group. We would love to meet you on the trail if timing works out.

 

[California Overland]

We took 6 overlanders there in 2017 including an Avalanche pulling a Mobile 1 bother trails are no problem. We did many offshoots Burnt Knob was the most challenging, and it was also a peace of cake. Coming from the north in the ID BDR you come right past out little inland NW group. We would love to meet you on the trail if timing works out.

Thanks got for the info. I'll keep in touch, if everything goes to plan we'll be cutting over from Whitefish to Bonner's Ferry to join up with the BDR some time during the last week of July.

Do you think two days each (4 days total) for the Lolo and Magruder sections is enough time or can both sections be done in a day each?

 

[Sandpoint Steve]

Thanks got for the info. I'll keep in touch, if everything goes to plan we'll be cutting over from Whitefish to Bonner's Ferry to join up with the BDR some time during the last week of July.

Do you think two days each (4 days total) for the Lolo and Magruder sections is enough time or can both sections be done in a day each?

We did them in 5 days. There is a lot to see you could go slower and spend more time in camp, but you could easily do them in 2 days if you want to. If you want I can dig up my GPS tracks

 

[California Overland]

We did them in 5 days. There is a lot to see you could go slower and spend more time in camp, but you could easily do them in 2 days if you want to. If you want I can dig up my GPS tracks

I would love to take more time to do those two sections but we have to be back home by August 6, so if we enter at Bonner's Ferry by July 29 we'll have 8 days to do the BDR and make it back to Sacramento. Might be pushing it, I just don't know what our safe speed will be on the BDR. But if the Lolo and Magruder sections take 3 days that will really only leave us 4 days on the BDR, plus one day home.

I have thought about skipping the Lolo and Magruder sections by leaving the BDR at Pierce and joining up at Grangeville. Maybe save that loop for another time when they can be done properly.

 

[britz]

The Magruder is almost always open before the Lolo, if only by a few days. I can do the Motorway in one long day, but two days with a stopover would give you enough time to get through and enjoy a few sidetrips.

With the road repairs on the Magruder in 2016, a sedan could make it to Elk City from Fales Flat campground in one long day, no sidetrips. The trip from the east terminus of the Lolo near Powell, Idaho down to Fells Flat CG is about 2.5hrs, not including resupply on the 93, if needed.

I was in the rowdy pack of yahoos Steve put together in 2017 and even with a few hiccups, it was decently paced.

We got all of our Winter in the last 3 weeks, so unless theres a massive spring heatwave, it looks to be on pace for the typical last week of July opening, I start making recon runs in late June up the Motorway.

 

[California Overland]

The Magruder is almost always open before the Lolo, if only by a few days. I can do the Motorway in one long day, but two days with a stopover would give you enough time to get through and enjoy a few sidetrips.

With the road repairs on the Magruder in 2016, a sedan could make it to Elk City from Fales Flat campground in one long day, no sidetrips. The trip from the east terminus of the Lolo near Powell, Idaho down to Fells Flat CG is about 2.5hrs, not including resupply on the 93, if needed.

I was in the rowdy pack of yahoos Steve put together in 2017 and even with a few hiccups, it was decently paced.

We got all of our Winter in the last 3 weeks, so unless theres a massive spring heatwave, it looks to be on pace for the typical last week of July opening, I start making recon runs in late June up the Motorway.

Thanks for the Intel on the route, much appreciated. We have so much snow in California right now too. Something like 150% of normal. Even if we didn't get any more snow for the rest of winter (which seems unlikely at this point) I think it's looking like very late access to backcountry routes. Maybe July as well.

 

[britz]

Anyone planning on taking the Motorway this season, please note FR 100/ Glenwood Rd, the main road to Kamiah, Idaho from the west terminus of the LM, and FR 101, the main aporoach from Syringa off HWY 12 were completely blown out this week. FR 101 may be repaired by mid-July, but Glenwood now has a sweet 600'x 60' deep chasm to jump over, and Idaho County isn't the fastest on road repairs.

 

[pierceg]

Anyone planning on taking the Motorway this season, please note FR 100/ Glenwood Rd, the main road to Kamiah, Idaho from the west terminus of the LM, and FR 101, the main aporoach from Syringa off HWY 12 were completely blown out this week. FR 101 may be repaired by mid-July, but Glenwood now has a sweet 600'x 60' deep chasm to jump over, and Idaho isn't the fastest on road repairs.

Fify

Or not at all in some cases.
Idaho seems to ngas when it comes to road repair.

 

[Sarge368]

This trip looks amazing! Thank you for the initial write up as well as everyone's advice and road condition reports. They are very helpful. Would anyone that has the gps data for this be willing to post it up here? That would be much appreciated.

 

[Sarge368]

Fify

Or not at all in some cases.
Idaho seems to ngas when it comes to road repair.

I grew up in North Idaho and I concur that the road repairs in Idaho were mainly nonexistent!

 

[Sandpoint Steve]

Here you go.
GPX and KML files
we had to divert the last day due to one of our rigs has a power steering and brake failure, but you get the picture.
Do NOT miss out on burnt Knob or Hells half acre.

GPX viewer

 

[Sarge368]

Here you go.
GPX and KML files
we had to divert the last day due to one of our rigs has a power steering and brake failure, but you get the picture.
Do NOT miss out on burnt Knob or Hells half acre.

GPX viewer

Awesome! Thank you so much.