Lolo Motorway

Last week I loaded up the ATV and headed for the Lochsa River along highway 12 between Lewiston, ID and Missoula, MT. For several years now I've wanted to travel the Lolo Motorway, one of the things on my "Bucket List". It follows the Nes Pierce Trail, the route used by the Nes Pierce for centuries to cross the mountains east of Lewiston. It is also the same route used by Lewis and Clark when heading west and returning east. And it was the route the Nes Pierce used in their flight from the cavalry, so there is a lot of history to the trail.

The Nes Piece Trail follows the ridge line just north of the Lochsa River. There were too many narrows and rapids along the river route back then for safe travel so the Nes Pierce took the high ridges. Now the highway does follow the river. In the early 1900's, the government converted the trail to a road, hence the term "motorway". You wouldn't want to drive your car along the motorway. It simply a narrow dirt road. Most SUV's would be fine. A 4x4 vehicle or an ATV are best.

I spent 3 days exploring the motorway and saw maybe 5 other groups the entire time. Most were Lewis and Clark enthusiasts.

The motorway is about 100 miles long and is crossed by several logging roads along the way. One lead to this nice little lake, called Horseshoe Lake.

Since the motorway follows the ridges, one in a while you come upon mountain tops or "lookouts". This one was my favorite. You could see forever. It used to be the site of an old forest service fire lookout. The forest service had quite a time keeping it operational as each winter would all but destroy the lookout. A couple of years it burned in forest fires.

Since the motorway hugs the ridges above 6000 feet, there are several alpine meadows and the trees are all tall and skinny.

I did mention forest fires. A large on burned through the area less than 10 years ago. It was strange riding through miles and miles of burned timber.

It was a fun 3 days riding the motorway. I would recommend highly recommend it to anyone inclined to try it. I'll probably do it again sometime.