Fish Creek Road

My parents, one brother, and a niece came to visit us a couple weeks ago for a week. One day during their stay my dad and I hopped in Ludwig and headed down I-90 to see the largest (known) pine tree in Montana.

I-90 Westbound

We took the wrong exit and strolled around the banks of the Clark Fork River (full name: Clark's Fork of the Columbia) for a bit.

Back on track, we found the monster Ponderosa. It's located just a bit off the interstate at the Big Pine Fishing Access Site & Campground. Standing just shy of 200 feet, the 335 year-old Ponderosa would probably seem a bit of a yawn to readers who've seen Sequoias and other Redwoods in situ, but we native flatlanders were duly impressed. Say what you like: it's a damn big tree.

You could make two normal-sized houses with the wood from this tree (really).

The tree sits right next to Fish Creek, which is apparently a decent fly fishing stream. These guys are serious. (I prefer ice fishing, myself.)

Just for the fun of it, we decided to follow Fish Creek Road up into the mountains, to where it eventually meets US 12. The road twisted pleasantly through meadows, pine forest, and deciduous forest, and past talus piles, never straying far from the creek--except for the final three miles, where it climbed up and over into the Lolo Creek watershed. Ludwig was happy to let us bounce along at a restful 25-30mph and enjoy the Bitterroots.

When we got to the highway, I turned East to head back to Missoula via Lolo. A few seconds later we passed milemarker 7, meaning that the state line was not quite ten minutes behind us. We weren't on any serious kind of schedule, so I asked Dad if we should turn around and head to Idaho. He was game--I don't think he'd ever been to the Gem State.

Now he has.

At the vistor's center straddling the border (free coffee and tea!), we parked next to this monstrous VW Eurovan. A lot more than just 30 years of technology separate Ludwig from this behemoth.
Something I found strange was that the visitor's center was clearly marked "5225 feet", yet I've got maps telling me the pass is at 5233' and 5235'. In any case, I erred on the side of caution when listing Lolo Pass on the list (on the right-hand side of the blog, above) of mountain passes Ludwig has traversed.

Heading back into Montana, we stopped for a picture of this kind-of-balancing rock along the highway. The water is Lolo Creek.

This Summer has been exceedingly hot in Western Montana, but there were still a few pockets of snow up on Lolo Peak (9096') in late July.

All in all, it was a great jaunt through a chunk of the Bitterroots that I'd definitely visit again. Thanks to Dad for being a good sport, and for taking many of the pictures seen here.