Lochsa River, Idaho

Max said he wanted to do a long road ride and I thought Sheep Mountain sounded better. We decided to do the road ride. It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Missoula and we met at 6 am at the Hanger to head to the Lochsa River in Idaho. After a few delays, like my rear tire exploding in front of Sportsmen's Surplus, we finally got out of town shortly after 7. It was pretty slow going initially as there was a significant head wind from Lolo to Lolo Pass. We probably averaged 16 to 18 mph. It was plenty chilly as well. The above shot is where the Crooked Creek and the Brushy Creek come together to form the Lochsa in Idaho. This is a beautiful area not too far above the Lochsa Lodge. As a matter of fact, this is not too far from some of the most beautiful country in the United States. Lewis and Clark came through this area (click on Max's photo at the top of post) and the stories of their trip are incomprehensible. For an excellent account of this region, I highly recommend Bud Moore's Lochsa Story. This is a great work. Bud is living in the Swan Valley giving tracking lessons. We took a brief break here near the Lochsa Lodge and then headed back to Missoula. We had ridden about 50 miles over and on the journey back out of the Lochsa wilderness close to Lolo Pass I took a quick snap of one of the signs before my camera started acting up for some reason. We met a couple of young women riders who had stopped at Lolo Pass and were now heading for Missoula too. Lolo Pass has really been improved and is a great stopping point. Max and I rode back pretty strong running at about 22-24 mph for the most part even though the wind had shifted and was once again in our face for some reason. There were a lot of Harleys out today and many of the hog riders gave us thumbs up! It was another great weekend ride, though next time we are taking our rods and a tent! Max said the fishing is too tempting. I agreed!