Western Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska, WTW style

[Foy]

Gents and ladies,

My bride of 36 years and I are entering the "advanced daydreaming" stage of planning a trip back to the Montana-Idaho border area about which we are smitten. We've been visiting the Big Hole, Rock Creek, Dillon and environs together since driving there during July 1980 when on vacation from a work site in Mississippi. We then took her 1977 Honda Civic and we car camped and backpacked in and out of a 2-man backpacking tent, with a Svea stove, one collapseable water container, a Coleman steel-sided 48 qt cooler, and a whole box of Allman Brothers and Little Feat 8-track tapes. My, how things have changed.

We'll be in the venerable '02 Superduty diesel which by then will have > 250,000 miles on the clock, and we'll be towing the new Rockwood A127TH hardside A-frame camper. We gravitated to the trailer mostly so we can drop the house and use the truck to scamper around fishing and hiking while the "base camp" stays put. With that in mind, we plan a few days on Rock Creek, mostly fishing, followed by a few days on the western edge of the Big Hole at Twin Lakes, an incomparable spot on the planet, from which we'll do some horseback riding guided by "Sheriff Dave", a wrangler who served as the Sheriff of Beaverhead County, MT in the 1960s, some hiking, an above timberline drive up to Comet Mountain, and visits to our old favorite haunts at Bannack, Polaris, and Dillon.

The exploration of new areas begins in earnest when we turn southeast for home. We're looking at a 150-175 mile traverse along the Montana side of the MT-ID border from Lost Trail Pass to Red Rock Pass, via the Big Hole, Horse Prairie Creek, Medicine Lodge Creek, Big Sheep Creek, and the entire length of the Centennial Valley. Likely head up to the Divide at Lemhi Pass for a visit to Sharkey's Hot Spring and another side trip to Morrison Lake and the Old Bannack Road. After a "tourist day" at Jackson, WY, we'll proceed to the Nebraska Panhandle at Crawford/Fort Robinson. From there, we'll head to Chadron for visits to the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center and the Museum of the Fur Trade. Then it's into the Nebraska Sandhills for a 2 or 3 day traverse from northwest to southeast, emerging back to the slab near Grand Island, NE.

We think we have a good handle on the sights to see as far about I-15 near Lima, MT. We're just starting to get familiar with the Centennial Valley and the rest of the corridor. I'm thinking we'll stay south of the Wind River Range leaving Jackson primarily so we can visit Granite Creek Falls hot spring (the natural hot waterfall spring, not the developed pools). We'd be interested in any suggestions from Lima, MT across the Centennial Valley to Henry's Lake, ID, thence south to Teton Pass just west of Jackson. We might cut the US 191/WY-28 corner above Farson, WY if we can find a good graded gravel route to WY-28 and South Pass. Likewise, we're interested in the high desert between Muddy Gap on US 287 and Casper, either north or south of Pathfinder Reservoir. We'll be headed east from Douglas, WY to reach Crawford, NE on US 20.

So, anybody with ideas about things to see or places to camp all the way across central Wyoming and in the Nebraska Sandhills, chime in. It's all possible at this point.

Foy

 

[Taku]

Let's see: drive the northside road thru the Centennial Valley, you can camp on agency land and get a great view of the Centennial's and then drive up past Elk Lake (if you want to do a bit of hiking and fishing head for Hidden and Goose Lake above Elk Lake). Go around to the Bechler River in the sw corner of Yellowstone Park if you have not been there. Lot's of creeks and small rivers to fish in that general area. If you go past Jackson and to Granite, think about going to the Upper Green River. Good campsites, good fishing and nice country all through there. Plus lot's of wolves and bears. If you head for the general South Pass area, go camp up the Sweetwater River - a bit out of the way and good fishing. Some thoughts at least.

 

[Foy]

Thanks Taku!

I'd just figured on running south on I-15 from Dell to Monida, but you're suggesting departing from Lima and running the North Valley Road. That adds some off-highway distance and looks great, thanks!

I've seen a description of the road from Elk Lake to Hidden Lake as "long and very bumpy". What has been your experience up there? What's the road from MT 509 (the main road from Monida to Red Rock Pass) just up to Elk Lake? Is that generally a good graded gravel road, or is it otherwise?

I'm seeing the Lander Cut-Off Road from south of Hoback Jct/Pinedale over to WY 28. Is that the Sweetwater River crossing you're referring to? I imagine you're referring to some areas upstream of that, in the southeastern portion of the Winds. Correct?

Thanks again,
Foy

 

[Taku]

Well, the roads in the Centennial are all pretty much no problem for passenger cars, as long as it has not been raining. Up past Elk Lake, it can get a little bumpy, but if you drive like you are on a Forest Service road and not a highway, you can take a car up there no problem. If you are used to the roads around the Big Hole and go through the Tendoys and Morrison Lake country those roads were in worse shape than Elk Lake area last time I was through that country. For the Sweetwater, yep, go up off of WY 28. There is a BLM campground up there and dispersed camping. Here is a link to a tiny bit about the Sweetwater and a lot more about the best scotch bar in America in Atlantic City, WY (http://stalkingtheseam.com/2014/10/03/the-best-scotch-bar-in-america/). All good country.

 

[Foy]

Nice! Perhaps we need to take our time leaving Jackson, enjoy the hot spring and the Lander Cut-Off route paralleling the CDT, and overnight in Atlantic City. Thanks for the additional info!

One more specific question, Taku: About Morrison Lake and its access road off of Big Sheep Creek Byway. A very well spoken gentleman employed by the BLM's Dillon office says "no way" a little camper trailer can be towed up to Morrison Lake from Big Sheep Creek Byway. Another fellow, a prolific blogger and paid route ADVrider route planner, says he's seen 5th wheel campers pulled up to Morrison Lake along Morrison Lake Road. What's your take on that? With the "toy-hauler" platform, the camper is 19' long coupling to rear bumper. It's on 15" AT tires/wheels suspended by torsion springs, so no "trail sweeping" axle. It has 16-18" ground clearance all around. I realize washouts and such can occur anywhere at any time, but do you have a gut feel for the likelihood of us pulling the camper up Morrison Lake Road to the lake?

Great stuff, and thanks again!

Foy

 

[Taku]

Since I have never hauled around a trailer that big, I don't have a good idea of how it handles. I would say the best thing for that road would be to drop the trailer at the bottom, drive up and see what you think. I seem to remember that if you got in a fix, there are not many places to turn around, especially with a trailer. Another nice place in that general country would be to drive up to the Forest Service Cabin below Antone Peak (can camp at the trailhead there). It is a nice hike up to Antone Pass and last time we were up there in June, we were the first hikers up to the pass - the trail was beat down with elk tracks and there was a beautiful mule deer shed right in the middle of the trail.

 

[Foy]

Another stellar suggestion--Antone Peak. We're big on day-hiking summits, and I'd already been a-ponderin' spending 2-3 days passing through the Centennial Valley and running up to either the Snowcrests to bag Antone or to the Gravellies for a walk-up over there. I'll be looking at the topos for the elevation gain and grade (steepness) of the trail from the Antone Cabin. When we get above about 8,000', the going gets tough for East Coast lungs which live at a whopping 255' above sea level.

Yep, figured I could drop the trailer at the bottom of the run up to Morrison Lake, take the truck up for a look-see (particularly to find out if anybody would be descending!) and go back to fetch it if the route looks good. The trailer is a bit of a bear with much LOA between the wheels and the coupling, causing it to scribe a line well inside of the truck's track. The truck's track is bad already due to the Crew Cab long bed configuration. Switchbacks are a definite no-go, and very tight curves are hairy.

Thanks for the inputs!

Foy