Day 5 – Honey, I Broke the Truck…

Today we set out from our current home base in the Selway-Bitterroot National Forest , ID to see a fire tower, hike to a hot spring, and hike a short nature trail.  We met a guy at the ranger station who said the view from the fire tower was worth the drive on unpaved roads.  He suggested that 4WD was helpful, but not necessary.  We left the main highway and the sign read 17 miles to the fire tower.  We figured that would take us about an hour on the unpaved road.  After 40 minutes, we reached a junction and realized we’d only covered about 6 miles.  A sign welcomed us to the Lolo Motorway, the trail the Nez Perce Indians led Lewis and Clark over.   The sign warned of boulders and steep grades, and cautioned against motor homes and trailers.  Heck, if Lewis and Clark can do it in 7 feet of snow, we should be able to handle it in an F-150 in the middle of the summer, right?  Right?

We started down the next section of road, and the conditions quickly worsened.  The road was rutted, rocky and narrow.  But we persevered.  After another 45 minutes or so, we crossed paths with a group of ATVers.  We asked them about the fire tower, and they said “it’s not too far, maybe 6 or 8 miles.”  6 or 8 miles!?!  We considered turning around, but felt like we were already invested in the journey, and we really wanted to see the view.  Onward.  The road continued to degrade, and now we were incredibly thankful for our 4WD.  I don’t know how anyone could make it in a 2WD!  We bounced and bumped and hoped that the racks in the back of the truck wouldn’t fail!  Robbie and I alternated driving and spotting while C did her best to not get carsick.  After another long stretch of driving, we reached a junction…2 more miles to our destination.  This section of the road was horrible, so we decided to park the truck and walk the rest of the way.  We all needed some exercise, anyway.  I knew this would be a stretch for my still-recovering hip, but I had my trekking poles and moral support.  On we slogged in the dry heat.

We finally made it to our destination, and oh, was it worth it!  I’ve never seen such an amazing 360 degree view!  And we had the place completely to ourselves.  It was a beautifully simple building, built atop a rock strewn summit.  What a place it would be to storm watch.

 

Hike to Castle Butte Fire Lookout

View over the Bitterroot Valley

After we’d had our fill of the view, we returned to the truck and began the lengthy, but not quite as daunting drive back to camp.

As we descended the last few miles to the highway, the brakes were getting a little hot, so I decided to downshift the transmission. Blame exhaustion or just stupidity, but as I shifted into what I thought was 1^st gear, I actually shifted into reverse.  Robbie was watching this bone-headed maneuver, and I quickly got back into drive, but not before the power steering and power brakes shut down.  If you’ve ever tried to drive a full-size pickup without power steering, I don’t recommend it.  #1 on the list of things you don’t want to do one week into a one year trip is kill your tow vehicle.  After catching our collective breath, and giving the truck a few minutes to recover, we tried to start the engine.  It wouldn’t turn over.  I sat there running through how long it would take to walk to the highway, flag someone down (no cell service out here), and get a tow truck.  In that time, the truck miraculously recovered, and it started up like a champ.  The transmission seems fine- the fine folks at Ford seem to have built in a system to prevent the transmission from coming to harm during such an event.  Disaster averted.  Lesson learned!

Needless to say, we did not make it to the hot spring or the nature trail.