This probably was for the best anyways as the alternate track came close to a fire in that area. We picked up tonight's dinner in Lolo, then headed up the pass to the Hot Springs, arriving at around 3:30pm. We travelled 171 miles today which was our biggest day of miles for the trip. Getting there in the afternoon meant we had plenty of time to unwind, do some laundry, go soak in the pool, and didn't have to worry about camping because we rented a cabin for the night. We hung a string in the cabin and had laundry all over the room. Pretty funny looking, but practical.
Tim had brought these weird little BBQ devices – essentially a pan of sterno or something similar – and he had a small grill to use with it. So we bought already assembled shish-ka-bobs and had that for dinner. I must admit, I was doubtful it would work but I'm happy that I was wrong. Turned out to be a great dinner. We turned up the heat in the room to help dry things out and went back up to the hot springs for a second dip. Between that and the shower, I felt human again. No fire tonight, but we sat in the cabin talking, but the hot springs really sapped us, but in a good way. We went to sleep pretty quickly.
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
I'm glad we were in a cabin, but up there near Lolo Pass it was cold. Frost was once again on the bikes. We had a microwave, so we made breakfast with that and got packed up and on the road by 8:45am – our earliest departure time yet. We bundled up again because it was a cold ride down the highway to Lochsa Lodge about 45 minutes down the road where we'd get fuel. While stopped we chatted with an old guy on a Harley who was finishing up a trip. Funny part? He was riding in tennis shoes and his feet were cold - what a surprise! We also ran into two other guys doing the route that we had met up with before. They were skipping the Lolo because they heard it was hard. One of the guys said he wasn't really an off-road guy and being on a big KTM, that was probably a wise decision. We went in the lodge looking for some type of souvenir t-shirt, but it's the end of the season and they didn't have anything in my size.
After about 20 minutes, we got back on the route which is the Lolo Motorway proper. The motorway is actually a primitive road built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps and roughly follows the Lolo Trail used by the Nez Perce Indians for years. This is the same trail that Lewis and Clark used in their trek across the continent starting in 1805. The US Forest Service calls the road "difficult" and that it "demands a high degree of self-sufficiency" which sounds pretty scary. The reality is that the road is not much more difficult than the Magruder and any decent four-wheel-drive vehicle can navigate it without trouble. On our 250's we found the road just a normal dirt road and had zero difficulty. It's a very pretty area though I can tell you that.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
