We’d been through some gorgeous locations in northern Idaho during 2020 (idaho bucke list link here, bike Hiawatha Trail here and more Idaho here) but had planned in the summer of 2021 to cut through the Bitterroot Mountains like Lewis and Clark and then explore further to the south. The challenge and beauty of the 1 million acre Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness was calling.
We drove Highway 12 from Lewiston ID alongside the wide Clearwater River, but recent lightning storms in the area had set off multiple fires and smoke surrounded us. We were monitoring road closures carefully and even on the ones that were open, there was less traffic and evidence of little fires everywhere.
Boulder creek 
About 40 miles east of Kooksia, ID on Highway 12 is the junction of the Clearwater River with its headwaters; the Selway River flowing in from the south and the Lochsa River flowing from the east. We diverted south for several miles along the Selway River to spend a night at O’Hara Campground. We had anticipated a beautiful riverside camping experience in this developed campground along the Selway but between a swampy, overgrown camp site and thick smoke it wasn’t quite what we’d hoped for. Back on Highway 12 the next day we followed the Lochsa River east to camp at the Wendover campground which was basically just a small loop right off the highway but ended up being the beautiful riverside site we’d hoped for (though still very smoky). The next day we continued east along the Crooked Fork River and Lolo Creek stopping occasionally to read the info-boards describing Lewis and Clark’s original route along the same route.
Like a ship at sea on a foggy night, we could tell that despite the heavy smoke sitting in the Bitterroots and along the Lolo Pass there were layers upon layers of mountains waiting to be hiked, but this was not to be the year that we would see the Bitterroots in all their glory. And, indeed, Lolo Pass was closed just 30 minutes behind us as large fires were threatening several sections of highway 12 in and out – access denied. At the historical Lewis & Clark “Travelers Rest” State Park in Lolo MT we spent some time studying the smoke and fire forecasts and decided our best chance to evade the smoke now blanketing most of the western states was to head to the northwest towards the border between the Idaho panhandle and Montana, a region we’d enjoyed in 2020 – although we made a point of taking different routes to explore new areas as possible. After camping one night at one of our 2020 favorite campgrounds beside the Thompson River (more here) we headed further north and west to Bad Medicine Campground on Bull Lake, 20 miles south of Troy MT.
