The Lolo Motorway
K’useyneiskit: The Road to the Buffalo

Start this journey at the historic Powell area—the last chance for food, gas, lodging, and cell phone service for many miles—whether you are traveling along Highway 12 or the Lolo Motorway! At Powell, the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped on a small island in the Lochsa River. The island can be viewed at the historic Ranger Station. Lochsa Lodge has a restaurant, gas, and a small grocery, and Powell Campground has RV & tent sites, most with electricity.

Parachute Hill Road leaves Highway 12 at Powell and then climbs up to the Lolo Motorway. It is a wide, well-maintained gravel road.

Parachute Hill Road reaches the Lolo Motorway at Powell Junction where the Expedition’s 13-Mile Camp is worth a visit. The 1/3-mile-long trail is signed and follows the original Lolo Trail to a south-facing hillside with few trees and plenty of beargrass. (Horses don’t eat beargrass.) The campsite is in a small saddle at the top of the hill. The hill has spectacular views of the Bitterroot snow peaks and is often awash in white beargrass blooms.

Shortly after leaving 13-Mile Camp, the traveler passes Snowbank Camp, Bears Oil and Roots Camp, and then climbs up to Indian Post Office—an iconic stopping place on the Lolo Motorway at 46.5460, -114.9877. Indian Post Office has an exceptional 360º view of the Bitterroot Mountains. Considered a sacred Native American site by many, you will also find ceremonial rock cairns and other ceremonial objects. A primitive trail leads down to two lakes, and a restored section of the Nee-Me-Poo trail has a trailhead here. There is also a sign describing the Expedition’s “Lonesome Cove” camp which is directly below.

Leaving Indian Post Office, the traveler passes Moon Saddle, Saddle Camp Road (FS 107), the trailhead to the traditional “Sinque Hole”, and Saddle Camp before arriving at the Smoking Place trailhead. Smoking Place is a sacred Nez Perce site, a Lewis and Clark campsite, a more recent hunting camp, and a fire lookout site. At the trailhead is an interpretive panel and a small parking area.

Smoking Place is a short ¼-mile uphill from the Lolo Motorway and offers amazing views of the Bitterroot Mountains and ceremonial rock cairns. In late-June 1806, it was here that:

“we halted by the request of the [Nez Perce] Guides a fiew minits on an ellevated point and Smoked a pipe on this eminance the nativs have raised a conic mound of Stons of 6 or 8 feet high and erected a pine pole of 15 feet long. from this place we had an extencive view of these Stupendeous Mountains principally Covered with Snow like that on which we Stood;”
—Meriwether Lewis

Moving a ½-mile down the trail takes you to Grave Creek—the likely location of the Expedition’s “Sinque Hole” camp of September 17, 1805. Named “Swampy Saddle” by the Bird-Truax Expedition in 1866, the meadow has several “sinque holes” full of water. It also has the grave of a teenage Nez Perce boy who died here 1895. Grave Creek flows from the meadow and is likely Clark’s “run passing to the left.” Across from the creek, an old road climbs Grave Peak to an old Forest Service lookout site.

Leaving Smoking Place, the traveler passes Castle Butte, Greensward Camp on Bald Mountain, and then follows the spine of a long, dry ridge to No-See-Um Ridge. The first ½-mile along No-See-Um Ridge Trail is a pleasure to hike. It climbs gently uphill and gives stellar views of Bald Mountain to the northeast, the Bitterroot Mountain snow peaks to the east, and even a glimpse of Camas Prairie in the lowlands to the west. The trail is at its best when the beargrass is blooming, typically in early July.

Where the ridge terminates, the elevation, views, and condition quickly degrade. The trailhead is on the Lolo Motorway near 46.4267, -115.2916.

From No-See-Um Ridge, the Lolo Motorway descends to No-See-Um meadows where there is small creek and camping area. The road then climbs up to Sherman Peak—also known as Spirit Revival Ridge. On September 18, 1805, Meriwether Lewis wrote:

“the ridge terminated and we to our inexpressable joy discovered a large tract of Prairie . . . . the appearance of this country, our only hope for subsistance greately revived the sperits of the party already reduced and much weakened for the want of food.”

Today, a 1-mile-long trail climbs 700 feet from the Lolo Motorway to the summit of Sherman Peak. Other locations may have provided the Expedition’s viewpoint, and views of Camas Prairie can be spotty due to trees that may not have been there in 1805. Never-the-less, this hike remains popular with Lewis and Clark Trail enthusiasts. The trail begins near 46.4207, -115.3132.

Traveling along the historic Lolo Motorway is not all about Lewis and Clark. Indeed, this travel corridor was used by the Nez Perce for thousands of years before, and for more than a century after. Weitas Meadows in 1877 was the scene of the fleeing Nez Perce and the August 2 campsite of the pursuing U.S. Army.

Today, Weitas Meadow is a beautiful mountain meadow, small camping area, and a trailhead for Trail 40—the Nee-Me-Poo Trail. A well-maintained boardwalk meanders on one side of the meadow before climbing up to Green Saddle.

Rocky Ridge Lake is a scenic mountain lake with room for a handful of campers. Due to its scenery and relatively easy access from the west, it is not unusual to see RV’s here. (Driving RV’s on the Lolo Motorway is officially discouraged.) There is a restroom, and each site has a fire-pit and picnic table.

Past the road to the lake is a viewpoint of the lake. If you take the 3-minute walk from the Lolo Motorway, you won’t be disappointed!

Heading west from Rocky Ridge Lake, the Lolo Motorway reaches Pete’s Fork where you can take a short-cut to “civilization” by heading north to the well-maintained Road 103. Staying on the Motorway will take you to Canyon Junction where three large interpretive panels and five different roads merge. FS Road 101 is a good road, but from here the slowest option for leaving the Lolo. Instead, be sure to make a sharp turn to continue on FS 500—the Lolo Motorway.

From Canyon Junction, the Lolo Motorway is wide and graveled. It may seem like an expressway after traveling on the Motorway. You will soon pass Full Stomach Camp and then reach Salmon Trout Camp. From Salmon Trout Camp, you can continue either to Kamiah or Weippe, Idaho. See the Orofino-Weippe-Kamiah Loop for details.