Lolo Trail

Last year I went on a camping trip through the Magruder Corridor with my dad and his friend Bill. We got the band back together this year and set our sights on the Lolo Trail (aka Lolo Motorway). We had some rain and a lot of clouds on last year’s trip, so I don’t feel like we were able to experience all the Magruder had to offer. However, this year’s trip was a different story – we had amazing weather. I’m not sure if that was the sole reason, but I kind of feel like the Lolo Trail was more scenic.

Both routes feel really remote at times, which is one of the reasons why they’re popular. The road condition is definitely a lot worse on the Lolo, though. Easy for me to say because I wasn’t driving, but I was happy the road was in poor condition. Bill’s brand new Raptor didn’t have any issues with it, but we were getting tossed around inside a bit, which forced us to slow down and spend more time on the route.

One of the things I love about bikepacking is the slow nature of it. It really allows you to fully experience and enjoy the area through which you’re traveling. Under normal conditions you lose most of that when you’re in a truck. But if the road is super crappy, like it was on the Lolo, and you can only go a few miles an hour, you get a lot of that slow travel back.

We spent almost two full days on the motorway, which was really great. We camped at Devil’s Chair the first night on the actual Lolo Trail and it was a really nice spot. Amazing views and a beautiful sunset and sunrise. The best camp spot, though, was at the Rocky Ridge Lake Campground. We were right on the lake and the weather was absolutely perfect.

It was a really fun trip with lots of laughs and amazing views. I was even able to test out some dehydrated meals I made at home, which were a success. :)

Homemade dehydrated meals

The start

Big views

Bigger views

The gang

Indian post office

Indian post office

Lake overlook

Devils Chair campsite

Castle Butte Lookout

Castle Butte Lookout

Rocky Ridge Lake