the next couple of hours. Driving along the inviting emerald green waters, it was impossible not to share fly fishing stories. We made it to the top of our final major pass of the day between the St. Joe and North Fork Clearwa- ter drainages and stopped for lunch overlooking a stunning alpine lake. After a quick lunch, we made our way down into the Black Canyon of the North Fork Clearwater. It is a spectacular canyon lined with mas- sive granite spires and old growth cedars. It was difficult to resist the cool water of the river during the oppressive heat of the day. Alas, we knew that we couldn’t stop; we still had many miles to go before making it to our first camp on the famous Lolo Motorway. But first, we need - ed to get to Pierce for fuel. The Idaho BDR is not just chal- lenging due to the ruggedness of the roads that it travels over, but also the distances between fuel stops. Several of the sections are around 200 miles with nothing but remote wilderness between the start and stop points. Finally, we arrived in the little town of Pierce around 6 p.m. that first evening and took turns fuel - ing up at the small gas station and market. The BDR is extremely ben- eficial to many of the tiny mountain communities that the sections con- nect. With mining and logging hav- ing slowed over the last few decades, it is a welcome economic boost to the small businesses that still exist in these towns. Pierce is no different. There are excellent rustic lodging options as well as a couple of fantas- tic eateries to visit when in town. Once we were fueled up, we head- ed back out of town 30 miles to our first camp, and about 20 miles into the Lolo Motorway. We set up camp
As soon as we left interstate 90, a few miles over the state line into Montana, we were on dirt. We pulled over into the Hiawatha Trail- head parking lot and began the 10- to 15-minute process of airing our tires down to increase traction, im- prove ride quality and decrease wear and tear on the trucks. While the continuous hiss- ing sound of air escaping the tires drowned out the sound of the birds and bugs humming and chirping in the surrounding forest, we chatted about the game plan for the day. We had multiple mountain passes to cover (all in all we ascended and descended over 75,000 vertical feet that day) and several long sections of road that none of us were familiar with outside of scouting using satel- lite imagery. Despite having radio communi- cation, we all agreed the lead truck would stop and wait at any inter- section to ensure no one made a wrong turn trying to follow in what would be epic proportions of moon dust. Getting lost in these moun- tains would be less than ideal. Ra- dio communication with low-power two-way radios is only good for may- be a couple of miles in the deep can- yons and steep passes we would be driving. >> Hitting the road Part of the first leg of the trip had us traversing the very northern end of the Bitterroot Mountains down to the North Fork of the Clearwater and out to the town of Pierce, Ida- ho. Along the way, we drove along a narrow ridgeline and by at least six alpine lakes nestled between mag- nificent, craggy peaks. We traversed our way south and eventually made our way down to the Shadowy St. Joe River. We then continued up- stream towards its headwaters for
our usual spontaneous day trips to cut trees out of the roadway. Ulti- mately, it would end up being more than 800 miles round trip with more than 600 of those miles driv- en off road. Jeff Durocher, Steve Duranceau and I would ride in my Tundra. Bryan Myers would drive his Gladiator. Ken Ebner would take his Tundra and Greg Barker would drive his Sequoia. We met up at 5 a.m. on a Friday morning. The sun was just begin- ning rise as we organized gear into the trucks and got situated for a long first day. We had to complete 197 miles of remote dirt roads the first day, beginning along the I-90 corridor near Taft on a variation of the BDR we designed ourselves.
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