Be prepareD
Before you launch onto this remote and rugged route make
sure you are well prepared. ey don't call it the River of No
Return for nothing. Have good 10-ply tires on your vehicles
and bring a spare tire (or two), jack, shovel, come-along,
winch, tool kit, axe, saw, survival kit, camping gear, sufficient
clothing, maps, and plenty of food and water. Don't count
on cell phone service should you get stranded. Landslides,
mudslides and flooded roads are not uncommon. For instance,
a massive mud and rock slide blocked the Magruder Road in
August 2014 after heavy rains hit an area burned by the 2013
Gold Pan Fire.
Forest fires are a yearly occurrence along the Magruder and
in surrounding Wilderness areas. You'll see plenty of evidence
of these fires in the form of ghost forests, and if you travel
later in the summer you may experience smoke and even see
a fire burning. Fire is considered an essential part of the forest
ecology in western Montana and Central Idaho, and you can
see forest recovery happening along the road.
GettiNG there
From Highway 93 between Darby and Connor, Montana,
turn onto Highway 473. Just south of the West Fork Ranger
Station, turn right on the Red River-Dixie Road #468. is
is the Magruder, which is at first paved because timber sales
were planned in this area before it was declared a protected
Wilderness.
On the western end of the Magruder you will reach Red
River Road #222 and the old Red River Ranger Station.
Continue to Elk City and take Route 14 to Grangeville or
Kooskia, Idaho. Drive back to Montana along Route 12,
following the Lochsa River, to complete an extraordinary
journey.
Tip:
best time to go is between mid-July
and end of September.
Magruder Corridor, nez Pierce national Forest
GEORGE WUERTHnER
