February in Montana

[windy]

Driving to Iowa from Washington (I-90) to pick up my new camper. Looking for cool places to do some mild XC skiing /camping on the return trip. This will be my 1st time in Montana. Always wanted to go but never came
To fruition until now.


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[Wango]

Spend most of the year in Big Sky, just north of West Yellowstone, MT.
Lots of great places in and around jellystone to slide around on sticks. Most years, I camp over near Gardner, a couple of times each winter. Have a great time, take it easy driving. Lots of critters.
w

 

[windy]

Thanks. Will do.


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[Foy]

I'm not an XC skier, nor am I a winter camper, but I am a veteran of many a trip to Montana over the last 41 years. With your primarily I-90 based out-and-back trip to Washington from Iowa in mind, the following may be worth looking in to:

Chief Joseph Pass/Lost Trail Pass: South of Missoula, US 93 crosses Lost Trail pass at the MT-ID border, and Chief Joseph Pass is in the immediate vicinity. An XC trail system more or less follows the Continental Divide Trail and the Gordon Reese Cabin is more or less between the two passes. Whatever the exact configuration of the trails and cabin systems, there is reportedly an abundance of XC skiing and some ski-access only cabins in the area. Lost Trail Pass is the location of a small downhill ski area and in these parts of MT and ID many small ski areas allow dry camping in their parking lots.

As you head towards home from Lost Trail Pass, you'd pass into the Big Hole Valley along MT 43. Taking MT 278 to the south from Wisdom, MT takes you through Jackson ,home of the Jackson Hot Springs Resort--a nice motel/cabins/restaurant/bar which is pretty much the only act in the town of Jackson. The hot spring waters are piped into an outdoor pool and use of the pool normally comes with booking a room or a camping spot.

A little farther on, the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway departs MT 278 to the north and about 10 miles up the paved, maintained road is the Grasshopper Inn and a bit past there is Elkhorn Hot Springs Resort. The former is a funky 1960's era motel/restaurant/bar which hosts snowmobilers, XC skiers, and downhill skiers using the Maverick Mountain lifts.The latter is a rather more rustic hot springs resort which also hosts outdoor enthusiasts and offers modest motel rooms in the main lodge, cabins, and an outdoor pool into which the hot springs waters are piped. The Byway is not maintained north of Elkhorn Hot Springs in winter, so the central Pioneers are a mecca for snowmobilers and XC skiers between Elkhorn Hot Springs and the village of Wise River around 35 miles to the north, at the opposite end of the Byway. It's likely that Maverick Mountain also allows parking lot dry camping.

Around 45 miles on down MT 278 from Jackson or Elkhorn HS is I-15 at Dillon, MT. Be sure to plan your trip to have lunch or supper at the Dillon Taco Bus, purveyors of the best Mexican food I've ever had. It's on MT 41 business north of downtown Dillon, right at an I-15 exit and conveniently a block or so away from Rocky Mountain Supply, a large fuel plaza, fishing and camping supply, RV dump station, and general store. If they don't have it at RMS, you probably don't need it.

From Dillon, look at reconnecting to I-90 east of Butte via MT 41 north to MT 55 at Twin Bridges to Cardwell, MT. Doing so avoids Homestake Pass on I-90, where due to its 6,800' elevation can catch some weather which the lower route may avoid the worst of.

Foy

 

[Happyjax]

When you picking it up? I am very excited to see how you like it. I really like the look of the campers

 

[longhorn1]

Windy, Foy is the Montana Gospel. We drove through many of the places mentioned but didn't stop at the hot springs. We were up in the Pioneer Mountains and and Skalkaho Pass in early October before the real snows fell. Pioneer Scenic Byway is really beautiful and we passed the Maverick Ski Resort. Foy suggested getting the Montana Benchmark Atlas. One of the best things we invested in. You are probably limited with several roads closed due to the snow pack. We love Montana. Our cousins have cattle and sheep ranches outside Big Timber Montana. A good part of our trip incorporated many of Foy's recommendations. Next time we will slow down a little and spend more time and the hot springs will be part of that. Our Montana/Wyoming trip is on our blog. You might pick up some ideas. Good luck. jd

 

[Foy]

I looked at my original post after seeing JD's kind words and immediately saw an error: The "low elevation route" from Dillon back to I-90 is MT 41 to Twin Bridges thence MT 55 to Cardwell. I'd typed in I-15 rather than I-90 as the destination. By taking the low route, you avoid a high point on the Divide, at the place name of Divide, on I-15 south of Butte, and a second crossing of the Divide at Homestake Pass on I-90 east of Butte. By taking the low route, you're done with I-15 after a brief segment from MT 278 immediately south of Dillon to the northerly Dillon exit along Business MT 41 north.

All of this will make more sense if you're following along on your Benchmark I do not receive commissions on Benchmark sales, by the way.

Foy

 

[windy]

Foy, your suggestions / advice sounds awesome and is well received. Thanks. We will provide updates on our encounters along the way.

HappyJax, we are planning for the 2nd week of Feb. we don't have muck of a schedule so if we get held up due to weather we will just have to wait it out wherever we are.

Super stoked for some winter fun & adventure.


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[windy]

Foy, I pulled out a map and started to lay out your route and I quickly realized that your route is backwards; no big deal as I see no reason it can't be a reversible route. My return trip is west bound.

Question, home is southern Washington along the Columbia River. Is there a decent winter route from Jackson southwest thru Idaho where we would approach Sun Valley from the north and then take 20 west to Boise and continue on home via 84?


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[Foy]

Yep, all of the 2-lane roads mentioned offer 2-way traffic

Assuming a Jackson, MT starting point, the only logical way to reach Salmon, ID in winter is MT 278 to Wisdom/MT 43 to Lost Trail Pass @ US 93, then the southbound descent to Salmon. Pass through Salmon to Challis on US 93 and at Challis take ID 75 through Stanley to approach Sun Valley from the north. There ARE routes through the Beaverhead Range along the MT-ID border/west wall of the Big Hole, but they're not passable by vehicle in winter.

Caveat: I've never driven ANY of this in winter. I have in fact never set foot in either MT or ID in winter. But I've spent some time daydreaming on dreary winter afternoons at my NC office while looking at live DOT webcams all over MT and ID. All of the route from Jackson, MT to Challis, ID is along major highways in the state and regional sense, and they're plowed early and often. I have a friend in Challis who regularly makes winter trips to Stanley for snowshoe hike-ins to remote hot springs and for snowmobiling, so I have an understanding that at least Challis to Stanley is well-maintained in winter. Stanley is a destination for snowmobiling and snowshoeing and likely for XC skiing, too, so I'd be surprised if its sole paved access along ID 75 from both directions is not heavily plowed in winter. It shouldn't be too difficult to get a feel for the whole thing with some communication directly with ID DOT and/or some daydreaming time on their webcams, some of which I'll bet are along ID 75.

You might be interested in seeing if Sharkey's Hot Springs above Tendoy, a little south of Salmon and just a few miles off of ID 28, is accessible when you're in the area. Sharkey's is a very nicely developed BLM facility, right on a graded gravel road, unmanned, with the hot spring waters piped into two large concrete tub/pools, with concrete aprons, changing houses, and bathrooms. You might see my Challis friend, Skndip on the Interwebs, there if it's accessible--he and his wife are C/O hot springs junkies and routinely spend long afternoons basking in the sunlight which bathes Sharkey's wide-open locale in winter. I would imagine a call to whatever BLM office includes Salmon or even a Salmon Forest Service office could confirm up to the date access to Sharkey's along Warm Springs Rd from ID 28. Warm Springs Rd ascends Lemhi Pass for crossing into MT west of Grant, but that's always closed in winter, to the best of my knowledge. Look Sharkey's up on the Interwebs--it's a very inviting spot.

Foy

 

[windy]

Thanks. I really appreciate you taking the time to guide. I will certainly take advantage of it.

We used to live in South central Idaho and spent a little time in sun Valley but that is as far north as we have been. Never made it to Stanley. A nostalgic run thru that area would be a lot of fun, particularly approaching it from the north.


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[ski3pin]

A good site for accessing traffic webcams and road conditions is -

One Stop Shop for Travelers

In the toolbar - upper left - is the opportunity to check such items as chain requirements.

Have a safe trip and enjoy the new camper!

 

[Foy]

A good site for accessing traffic webcams and road conditions is -

One Stop Shop for Travelers

In the toolbar - upper left - is the opportunity to check such items as chain requirements.

Have a safe trip and enjoy the new camper!

What a cool tool--combines the MT, ID, UT, WY, and CO DOT cams pretty much completely, as best I can tell.

If you toggle between this and, for example, weather.com's national map for this morning's goings on, you can see the map's depiction of where snow is falling in MT and ID as well as how they're getting hammered on a cam by cam basis.

My buddy in Park City, UT has some freshies on the ground and more on the way--jealous!

Foy

 

[windy]

Another good weather site for trip planning is "weather on wheels" app.


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