Day 22 - Missoula - Bitterroot Divide hike

Missoula, 170 miles total and 25.3 mpg. Totals for the trip, 3636 miles, 25.6* mpg. Those are the stats.

There was a marathon in Missoula today. We missed it. Hope everything went well. I expect the first finishers crossed the line just before I got up.

Remember the leftover pasta from Ciao Mambo? We ate it for breakfast! First time we’ve done leftovers, excluding the week in Red Lodge, of course….

It’s a good day to get out of town, we think, so our hike takes us about 54 miles west of Missoula (on I90), to a town called Superior (2700 feet altitude). We did the last 12 miles on the ‘old road’, which gave us a lot more view of the Clark Fork and the local area. From Superior it’s a 24 mile drive to the trailhead, on mostly good dirt road. I say mostly good, because there are quite a few places where they have recently installed drainage pipes under the road, and the road surface there is HORRIBLE! But the rest of the road (surface) is great.

The best comment I can make about the drive is that I have never driven so long with a shear drop on the edge of the road, one side or the other. The road is an old logging road, of course, but it’s only one lane wide, and in a few places that’s a thin lane indeed. Still, the road is cut into the side of some very steep hills, and the drop-off is constant. The drive is beautiful – wide vistas, you can see forever, snow, trees. Just that drop-off….

We got within a mile of the trailhead parking, at about 6500 feet. So the road came up about 3800 feet in those 24 miles! The drop-offs got steeper and deeper – but even the baby drop-offs would surely be fatal. Sheridan, if you’re reading, you would not have survived this drive. Snow stopped us – well, stopped the car anyway. We parked on the side of the road (what side there was) and hiked to the trailhead. There was just enough snow on the road to keep us from trying it, but there was no snow in the way at the trailhead.


The trail is an easy, relatively flat ridgeline trail of about 2.5 miles one way. The objective is a couple of lakes at the end. There is something different about this hike though – we’re alone. Just Sally-Heath, Jake, Woody and me. There is no one on the trail – we met very few vehicles on the 24 mile drive, and most of those were cycles/atvs. This is both good and bad. It is wonderful having the forest to yourself. That’s the good part. On the other hand, the regular inhabitants may be a bit more interested in the new guys. I’m hoping to see wildlife, and I’m hoping not to see wildlife, if you know what I mean.


But WAIT! What’s that ahead on the trail? A moose you say? Incredible! And more incredible, the moose waited for me to take a picture – even two! Okay, it’s not a prize moose, but it’s my prize. I “shot” a moose at 75 yards or so. It just doesn’t get much more exciting. And actually, that was exciting enough. I was happy when the moose decided we weren’t interesting enough to visit more closely!

We had the boys off-lead, with shock collars, before the moose, but decided the leashes would be a good idea from there on.

I kept searching and hoping, but no more big animals today. We got to the high point of the hike, and the lakes are about 400 feet below us. The trail to the lakes is pretty steep – we decided against going down, and instead continued a little further on the Ridgeline trial. I took some pictures of the lake, and some videos. There was more snow here, and we were at the level of everything else in the area – what incredible views.

After a brief rest, we headed back, still vigilant, but still no big animals. The hike back was quick and easy. It took an hour to drive back to Superior, and another hour to Missoula. We were exhausted, but very happy with the day. We forced ourselves to clean up and go out for one last meal in Missoula – at Scotty’s Table. Scotty’s is downtown, close to the other restaurants we have visited. We sat outside, it was a perfect temperature, and except for Mr. Sun in my eyes, everything was great. My pork chop was wonderful, as was all of the food. The service was great too.

Back to the room, write this, Sally-Heath is doing the laundry, and tomorrow morning one short hike on the way out of town, headed for Flathead Lake, Woods Bay.

S-H: I wanted to drive out the 24 miles to Superior from the trailhead area but no, and on the way down the comment was made that he’d rather scare me than have me scare him! The drop offs were gut twisting! The scenery spectacular!