Road 556

We’ve never really had time to explore when we’ve been here in Trout Creek.  We’ve only had a week, two at the most, to catch up with Tom’s mom, sister and whichever brothers, nephews, nieces, and cousins made it to the annual “Nobody’s Dead or Dying Family Reunion”.  This summer, we hope to do more exploring in this beautiful country. 

Yesterday was our first foray into the unknown.  We took off with a sketchy plan to take Hwy 556 toward Hwy 2, then decide which way we’d come back.  It didn’t take long for our plans to change.  The Montana road map (a fresh one, published by the state) wasn’t adequate for this trip.  Within just a few miles of leaving Hwy 200 the pavement ended and we were now on a forest service road.  At the first junction the sign indicated our road went straight ahead, with other destinations to the left.  Problem is, it was a “Y” with our road heading to the right (but not hard right turn) and the other road heading to the left (but not a hard left turn).  After that it went downhill.  Figuratively, not literally.  That was the last sign we saw that told us we were where we meant to be.  Some of the side roads identified their destination.  Some of the side roads were identified with a forest road number.  And the better road we kept crossing was private.  At least some sections of it were private.  “Our” road crossed it, joined it, paralleled it … or the road(s) we drove did those things.  The sign told us we had 38 miles to go and we went at least 36. 

Finally, as our sense of location faded, we turned around and came back the way we came.  Better to have been within a very short distance of our goal and turned around than to wander from road to road to road.  We had to have been less than 3 miles from Hwy 2.  Unless we never got on the right road once the confusion of unmarked and poorly marked roads began.

But, it was for the journey, not the destination, that we set out.  But, we don’t want to be statistics that point out how foolish it is to travel with inadequate maps.  It looks like we’re going to need several forest service maps.  We’ve got the one for the Kootenai forest which is mostly between here and Idaho, but our trip took us into the Lolo forest to the east of here.  And, it might not be a bad idea to carry Tom’s GPS and learn to use it.

The scenery was varied and beautiful.  We started along the Thompson River, following it for several miles.  We also passed a huge meadow – the kind that looks like it must have been cleared for agriculture and hasn’t yet recovered back to forest.  To add to the idea it was cleared, there are the remains of two cabins in the strip of forest between the road and the meadow. 

We passed through various forest types, with the dominant tree changing from lodgepole to cedar to ponderosa and back and forth between forests.  Sometimes it was thick forest, with only the river and road providing a break.  Other times it was pretty open, but never scrub or grassland.

 

We may try this road again someday when we have a forest map, or maybe from the other end.