July 31, 2021

We knew we wanted to see Lolo Pass. It’s an Indian road through the mountains that Lewis and Clark took when they realized they still had ranges of mountains to cross before they would reach the Pacific Ocean. We thought the story we would tell would be about how the road over Lolo Pass was a rugged 156-mile trip with little game available that took 11 days. Instead we found ourselves seeing the behind-the-scenes efforts to fight the Granite Pass Complex Fire.

The fire started 7/12/21 with a lightning strike about 35 miles southwest of Missoula. It split into four fires and three weeks had burned 5,800 acres. Estimated containment as of 7/31/21 was not until the middle of September.

This information was stapled to a board in a historical interpretive picnic area.
The areas circled in red were active fires.
This fire camp was a combination of personal tents, recreational vehicles, support facilities, and portable toilets.
The parking lot and the Visitor Center was serving as a helipad as firefighters were moved in and out of various locations.

The skies were eerily beautiful.

Some of our experience on Lolo Pass was about geocaching.

We walked through wildflowers to an overlook for one cache.
Another cache was along a hiking trail. Dave is pointing to a guide for snowshoers so they could find the trail in the snow. The ranger confirmed that the snow can be 12-14 feet deep at the pass.
One cache was in this big cedar stump.
This cabin near the stump was used for overnight stays by snowshoers crossing the pass since before the road was built in 1962.
Categories: Travel

2 Comments

Laura · August 8, 2021 at 2:43 pm

Loved this, especially seeing you in a picture. You look so happy!
So glad you’re in areas if small population. Covid totally rampant here again!
Hugs!

Susan · August 9, 2021 at 7:21 am

The smoke makes the sky eerie indeed.

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