Magruder corridor in Idaho - beta needed

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Annie O

The Magruder sounds delightful and i'm soooo jealous. I like the recommendation in the mileage table that "It is a good idea to pack a chain saw in case you encounter downed trees." I guess my Sven saw and Dads hatchet do not keep me quite as ready as I imagined

They'll get the job done eventually, but like in vehicles sometimes there's no substitute for horsepower...

[shenrie]

Originally Posted by basssears

I now mountain bike with a hand saw, guess it's the same as putting a chainsaw on the roof of the Sportsmobile.

I’ve been riding with a 12” bowsaw for at least 20 years. Sometimes I feel like I’m on a trail maintenance crew, lol. I use the same backpack for the my bike as I do for the moto. Rarely need it for the mt bike trails around here anymore due to population explosion, but still use it quite a bit on the moto.

And ya the crazy microbursts are getting more and more common. The storm I referenced in my story above wasn’t that far as the crow flies from Hailey. We were back on the origins of the south fork of the boise a couple of miles up from the confluence with the big smokey.

[Rapidz]

Hi:
I've done the Magruder several times - in a Tacoma with a camper, in a Subaru with a tent and with my 02 Ford 350 7.1 Sportsmobile. The first leg from Elk City to Poet Creek Campground isn't a bad forest road. It's narrow and have to use turnouts for passing rigs. F. From Poet Campground to Burnt Knob Lookout turnoff is very narrow and not that bad for the Sportsmobile. We took the Tacoma up the road to Burnt Knob Lookout but the road has gotten washed out. It's basically boulder crawling and I would not take the Sportsmobile up there. From Burnt Knob Lookout turnoff to Observation Campground is very very slow. Lots of tire ripping rocks, narrow road and also lots and lots of dead snags from forest fires. Need a saw for sure. Can get blocked by fallen timber. From Observation Point to the Selway River is curvy, narrow downhill. This part of the road can be washed out so check with Forest Service. we drove all the way in to this point and had to turn around because of a washout.
From Selway River to Darby is a snap. My biggest worry of the trip was the sharp, pyramid shaped rocks on the road that have a habit of busting through the sidewalls of tires. And, downfall. If wind storm comes up those trees start coming down like match sticks.
It was a dynamite trip every time we took it.
Pete Zimowsky Boise
Here's my webpage on the road:
The Magruder Road

[Marcel Huijser]

We drove part of the Magruder corridor last weekend, went in and out on the Montana side.


Conditions:


section 1 (about 4 mi): East end: Jct of the Nez Perce trail (part of the Magruder corridor) with west Fork road (of Bitterroot river) until Soda Springs Rd (Little west fork campground): paved.


Section 2 (about 3-4 mi): from Soda Springs Rd (Little west fork campground) until east of Fales flat: gravel road (minor washboards and potholes).


Section 3: East of Fales flat across Nez Perce Pass until just west of Hells Half Acre turn off: paved, but deteriorating with "waves", potholes and with portions of the road that are about to slide down the mountain. But it is 2-lane, still plenty wide. speed maybe 25-30 MPH



Section 4: just west of Hells Half Acre turn off until Magruder crossing: good gravel road (minor washboards and potholes). Speed maybe 20 MPH.



Section 5 (about 8.5 mi): Magruder crossing until Magruder Massacre lookout point (i.e. about 2.3 miles east of Observation Point Campground).: narrow dirt road (not gravel anymore), road is in good condition but I put it in 4x4 because of slopes and loose dirt. Sharp blind curves. I honked horn before curves because of oncoming traffic, especially motorcycles. I think we drive about 10-15 MPH on this section.



In summary: from east end until Magruder Crossing is not a concern, pretty easy travel. West of Magruder Crossing until Magruder Massacre lookout: road narrows with steep slopes and blind curves. The main concerns here are:
1. Oncoming traffic in blind curves
2. Narrow road, combined with steep slopes and soft shoulders.


I have not been west of Magruder Massacre lookout point.


Hope this helps.

[basssears]

Quick follow up to our trip (which was all of almost a month ago, but pre smoke fortunately).

The road is, IMO, really quite fine. From Granite Springs to Salmon Mountain is the worst of it and it's really just slow going, a few ruts, some sharp looking rocks but nothing particularly hairy. Passing can be challenging in spots, we were happy we had friends in a smaller pickup ahead of us with a radio. Nothing that required a whole lot of clearance really, but I was glad to have 4 wheel drive just because I drove about 50 miles of it in 4 low just because the low gear gave me much more control (if I had gotten around to installing manual locking hubs I probably would have done it all in 2 low). Low range made the climbs easier, some of them are quite relentlessly steep for a while.

Overall my bigger concern is mechanical than the road itself, you're a long way out there and getting a disabled van out would be a nightmare.

We cooked off a little coolant on the long Whitebird Grade climb between Riggins and Grangeville (highway stuff, just cooking along and it was about 100 degrees) but that's because of some pinholes in the radiator... temp gauge climbed but never overheated. But I was happy I'd packed heavy with lots of extra fluids and some radiator hoses and a few other odds and ends, yes made for a tight squeeze in the van but was happy to have backup parts.



Only other mechanical hiccup was after topping off both tanks in Grangeville I drove on only one tank all the way to Poet Creek, where the other tank (which I hadn't touched yet) started venting out of the cap onto the ground... I think it was just hot and expanding from a few hours of slow going (5-8 mph)... stopped venting as soon as it cooled down that evening, but sure wasn't turning on the hot water heater just yet! In the future I'll remember to run a gallon or two off of each tank as soon as I fill up.

Fun spot to visit, Poet Creek is where we spent our first night and it's in an area that's pretty hot and exposed (due to fire damage) but the campground itself is in a crook of two creeks that are coming together and it was cool and shady and super quiet, very nice. Spent our next night at Paradise Guard Station on the Selway, we thought about staying high at Observation Point but it looked like the wind could pick up and there would be a lot of dust and a lot of dead trees swaying. Multiple nice campgrounds between Grangeville and Elk City to get close before hitting the Magruder itself.

-- Bass

[Annie O]

Bassears - Nice write up and I hope it’s back to fresh air for you all SOON. Just one thing... Pics or it didn’t happen! 🌞

[basssears]

So I had the GoPro on the windshield doing a pic every 10 seconds, but it's remarkable... uneventful Still trying to figure out best technique to turn its 25GB of sameness into something interesting time lapse like, probably should have just shot video and then run it at high speed.

Anyway, did shoot a few pics with the regular camera... and no, we didn't try Burnt Knob road, but pretty proud of our 1994 rolling along out there:

[vandiesel]

Just completed it this week. The road is really pretty good. A LOT of it is burned but it is really cool being out in the wilderness and quiet of Idaho. I made it up burnt knob in 2wd which was a bit of mind blower. We want west to east. We actually turned south and did another 200 miles off pavement to Challis. Go for it it’s a great trip.

[REF]

Nice to see some clear air....We’ve been kinda b-lining our way further south through Idaho to try and get out of the smoke, it’s been pretty bad, just came down 95 through the mountains to McCall. Will hopefully clear up a bit so we can find a place to drop the camper off to go explore, this was on the list, but don’t think it’s going to happen, hopefully Sawtooth area will be clearer....

[Marcel Huijser]

Smoke rolled into the Missoula area, just NE of the Magruder last Sat.

No scenic views for a while...