As a University of Montana student in 1990, I used to spend a lot of time in the Rock Creek drainage. It is about 20 minutes east of Missoula and is considered a Blue Ribbon fishery. Over the years, like all things it seems, things have changed a bit in this area.
Similar to the Blackfoot, all camping along Rock Creek is now in designated only areas. This is a result of more pressure in the area and of course an attempt to further protect the stream. There is an attempt to lesson the influence of the brown trout in the creek in order to enhance the cut throat's ability to propagate. I'm not sure how this is working, as I have not read the recent studies on the water shed.
However, in the spot where LR is fishing below, I did catch a beautiful cut which wiggled out of my hands as we fumbled for the camera. Most of the rafts today were upstream, as the salmonfly hatch has moved completely through the creek by this point. We were having success on golden stones, though the big bugs were still around. I think the fish have seen a ton of fly fisherman presentations and were pretty well schooled on what was going on. We chose a weekday evening for a reason, and things were still quite busy on the stream. We only caught a couple of fish.
I know some folks who have had some success hunting elk in the Welcome Creek Wilderness, but they tell me it is a ton of work getting an animal out of the area. To the north east of Welcome Creek is the Quigley road that takes one to
Sliderock Mountain (red flag on above map). This is an area I used to hunt in quite a bit, and once on the Willow road was cornered by a large bull moose. That was an interesting day. Driving up the Quigley road in snow and ice can be quite an experience. That also is another interesting story!
One year in the early ninties I was grouse hunting in the Sliderock area. It was a crip fall evening and the sky was perfectly clear showing countless stars. I was camped along the Sandstone Ridge with a (then law student) buddy and a couple of my bird dogs, a black lab (Lexie) and a lewellen setter (Rebel). At about two in the morning a lion came up from the Rock Creek side screaming its head off. It literally sounded like a screeching lady and scared the hell out of us. We jumped into the back of the jeep pickup as fast as we could until it stopped. Eventually, the cat went back down screeching the whole way. The next day I asked fish and game what would make that kind of noise and they said that it probably was a lion. I'll never forget that, ever.
Now, I ride my mountain bike along the Willow area. One can drop out eventually along the Skalkaho Road, and head to Philipsburg or over to Hamilton. Another nice area to grouse hunt used to be along Ranch Creek (see map), but I have not been hunting in the area in quite a long while. It is beautiful and eventually, like all the terrain in this drainage, climbs straight up. A last highlight of the evening was driving out and seeing the lower creek sheep herd. I'm going to post some pictures of this herd following this post. Rock Creek remains a treasure.
As a University of Montana student in 1990, I used to spend a lot of time in the Rock Creek drainage. It is about 20 minutes east of Missoula and is considered a Blue Ribbon fishery. Over the years, like all things it seems, things have changed a bit in this area. 
Similar to the Blackfoot, all camping along Rock Creek is now in designated only areas. This is a result of more pressure in the area and of course an attempt to further protect the stream. There is an attempt to lesson the influence of the brown trout in the creek in order to enhance the cut throat's ability to propagate. I'm not sure how this is working, as I have not read the recent studies on the water shed.
However, in the spot where LR is fishing below, I did catch a beautiful cut which wiggled out of my hands as we fumbled for the camera. Most of the rafts today were upstream, as the salmonfly hatch has moved completely through the creek by this point. We were having success on golden stones, though the big bugs were still around. I think the fish have seen a ton of fly fisherman presentations and were pretty well schooled on what was going on. We chose a weekday evening for a reason, and things were still quite busy on the stream. We only caught a couple of fish.
I know some folks who have had some success hunting elk in the Welcome Creek Wilderness, but they tell me it is a ton of work getting an animal out of the area. To the north east of Welcome Creek is the Quigley road that takes one to Sliderock Mountain (red flag on above map). This is an area I used to hunt in quite a bit, and once on the Willow road was cornered by a large bull moose. That was an interesting day. Driving up the Quigley road in snow and ice can be quite an experience. That also is another interesting story!
One year in the early ninties I was grouse hunting in the Sliderock area. It was a crip fall evening and the sky was perfectly clear showing countless stars. I was camped along the Sandstone Ridge with a (then law student) buddy and a couple of my bird dogs, a black lab (Lexie) and a lewellen setter (Rebel). At about two in the morning a lion came up from the Rock Creek side screaming its head off. It literally sounded like a screeching lady and scared the hell out of us. We jumped into the back of the jeep pickup as fast as we could until it stopped. Eventually, the cat went back down screeching the whole way. The next day I asked fish and game what would make that kind of noise and they said that it probably was a lion. I'll never forget that, ever.
Now, I ride my mountain bike along the Willow area. One can drop out eventually along the Skalkaho Road, and head to Philipsburg or over to Hamilton. Another nice area to grouse hunt used to be along Ranch Creek (see map), but I have not been hunting in the area in quite a long while. It is beautiful and eventually, like all the terrain in this drainage, climbs straight up. A last highlight of the evening was driving out and seeing the lower creek sheep herd. I'm going to post some pictures of this herd following this post. Rock Creek remains a treasure.
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