The Wheels on the Bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. : Grangeville, Idaho and surrounding areas

Along the way we stopped in Park City, Utah for the night. Had dinner downtown with Marianne and her husband Joe. A childhood friend and next door neighbor of Dave's.

Next night Gooding, Idaho in Fred and Dene's driveway. We then caravanned to Grangeville, Idaho. Seeing the sights along the way.

White Bird Grade

Rainbow over Grangeville as we arrive

Left Grangeville at 5am so we could hit the Madgruder Trail at sunrise.

Topping off with gas

Trailhead

No cell service but free locals calls

The Magruder Road Corridor extends 100 miles through a vast undeveloped area, offering solitude and pristine beauty, as well as expansive views of the Bitterroot and Clearwater Mountains. On its two ends: Elk City, Idaho, to the west and Darby, Montana, on the east. The road enables travelers to drive along a corridor between Wildernesses nearly twice as large as the combined states of Delaware and Rhode Island. To the north is the 1.2 million acre Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and to the south the 2.2 million acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

The road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the mid-1930s, so it predated wilderness designation and was preserved as a public travel corridor when the wild lands were protected by Congress. The corridor roughly follows an old migration path used by the Nez Perce Tribe to reach the buffalo hunting grounds of Montana from their homes in Oregon and Idaho.

Lightning ignited the Gold Pan Fire on July 16, 2013, in the River of No Return Wilderness, Idaho.

Green Mountain Lookout

Elevation 7,150 ft

Constructed in 1956 and placed on the Historic register in 1997

Grouse

Burnt Knob

Burnt Knob is one of the most spectacular summits in the southern Clearwater Mountains. Its granite summit towers over a steep northeastern face which drops 800 feet precipitously down to the Burnt Knob Lakes. An old fire lookout sits on the summit. The scenic, massive view from the summit is tempered by the vast area around the peak which has burned over the last 30 years.

Burnt Knob Lakes

Historic Burnt Knob Lookout

Elevation: 8,196 ft

The unique log lookout cabin was built in 1930 and staffed until the 1960s. It is maintained for emergency use and placed on the Historic register in 1997

Coke on ice

Our adventure companions Fred and Dene

Lunch buddy

A little snow in spots

This area is one of the few places in America where you can see the subalpine larch. The larch is the only deciduous coniferous tree, meaning that its needles turn yellow and drop off in the fall.

In 1863 Lloyd Magruder and companions were returning along this route from Virginia City after making a handsome profit of gold dust from selling supplies to miners. Four other travelers joined the Magruder group. A few days later, the travelers attacked, murdered and robbed Magruder and his companions in the dark of night. The murderers rolled the dead men over the cliff and fled with their stolen booty. Hill Beachey, Magruder's friend pursued the murders and brought them back to stand trial in Lewiston, Idaho. Three of the men were found guilty and were hung on the 4th of March, 1864. Idaho's first legal executions.

Magruder Crossing Bridge

The only place in the upper Selway drainage area where you can drive across the Selway River is at the Madgruder Crossing. This steel pony-truss bridge was built by CCCs in 1935.

After a long day on the trail we spent the night in Hamilton, Montana

Driving back to Idaho along Route 12, following the Lochsa River, to complete an extraordinary journey. So glad mother nature gave us a clear, blue sky day yesterday.