Our Sunday drive took us up Skalkaho Road to the top of the pass and down to Rock Creek where we got on a Forest Service Road and drove it north to Interstate 90 east of Missoula.  The roads were pretty good considering all the rain we have had.  The views were great.  I had not been on the road that follows Rock Creek that far to the north so it was a new road for both of us.  We have driven to the top of Skalkaho Pass many times and over it to Phillipsburg quite a few times.  It was mostly cloudy but we had no rain.  The first part of the drive on the Forest Service road was very scenic with some very nice ranches.

Skalkaho Falls.

Looking west down the canyon towards the Bitterroot Valley.  You can see all the burned trees in this area.  The fires have been really bad in western Montana in the past decade.  In my opinion, the forest service is not doing a very good job of managing our forests.  They have been letting the fuels build up so much so that when a fire starts, it burns hot and out of control for sometimes weeks or longer.

This is what I mean by the fuels building up.  The trees both standing and down are very thick.  Fighting a fire in these conditions is almost impossible or it is impossible!

The first part of the Rock Creek road.

As I said, there are some nice ranches in this little valley.  And they are in the middle of haying.

Rock Creek.

Some pretty rock formations along this section of road.

The road in this area is a little narrow. 

Some nice stands of pondarosa pines.

Click to enlarge.  And this campground is closed because of Covid.

Nice meadows.

Our lunch spot. Only one camper in this campground.

And now back to civilization.  A paved road.

Interstate 90 headed to Missoula.

Just south of Florence we had fire trucks pass us on their way to this structure fire.

LOLO PASS SUNDAY DRIVE

Connie and I drove west on Highway 12 from Lolo, MT to the top of the pass where we got on Forest Service Road 373 and drove it east through the mountains back down to Highway 12 near the town of Lolo.  Road was in good shape and we made good time.  Did not take us as long as we thought it would and could have explored a few more side roads but was not sure how long it would take us.  The wildflowers were out in this area also.  But the thing that struck us the most was all of the dead trees from forest fires the last few years.  What a shame but they are part of the life of a forest. 

Packer Meadows

For those who can't read what Lewis recorded about this place because the writing is so small:
Captain Lewis recorded on June 29th, 1806: "at noon we arrived at the quamas flatts on the creek of the same name and halted to graze our horses and dine having traveled 12 miles.  We passed our encampment of the (13) September at 10m. where we halted there is a pretty little plain of about 50 acres plentifully stocked with quamash and from appearances this frames one of the principle stages or encampment of the Indians who pass the mountains on this road."

For the most part, there was good signage along the way but there were exceptions.

Lots of small water falls by the road.

Not sure of the name of this flower.

This was a dead end road.

Lots of flowers.

Big rocks by the road in many places.

Lots of old burn areas.

Still some snow in the high country.

Zeph in his spot.

Lily Lake.

Some really nice meadows.

Paint brush and vetch.

Lupine