Saturday, July 11, 2015

A break from the brutal heat

We woke up to some much needed rain this morning in Missoula. Its been hotter than hell for what seems like the last 4 to 6 weeks. The weather Office reported that April May and June were the second driest on record. So far no real big fires in Montana. Canada on the other hand is burning up and sending smoke signals down this way, could be a message? ;-)
The temps have been in the 90s consistently for weeks. The rivers are record low and fire restrictions are pushing close to stage 2 soon. The rain feels nice.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Magruder Corridor motorcycle ride

Let me start by saying how much I love my wife! She is the best and is willing to put up with my sometimes impulsive hobbies.

As of late the adventure touring on my KLR 650 has haunted my brain. I had been wanting to do the Magruder Corridor road for the last few years. Each year there had been excuses, fires, life etc. A three day window opened up and I seized the moment. Leaving the house I felt somewhat rushed, having packed just the night before. But I knew I had a operational moto, fuel, food, shelter and anything else could be dealt with a long the way. It was nice to be rolling towards the wilderness with such a minimal amount of gear (compared to what is required for camping with 3 kids).










I busted south from Missoula, following hwy 93 to Conner, MT, then up the West Fork of Bitterroot. The Magruder road was in good shape and was approximately 110 miles from end to end, the majority of it being dirt. Finding nothing too exciting to camp at along the way, I continued onto to Red River Hotsprings. What a great find, if you are ever in that area, you should go. I overnighted at the campground just down the road.

 


The next day I continued on into Elk City and had a big breakfast and got fuel. I was having an issue with my radiator fan (bike almost overheating at low speeds) so I decided to detour to Grangeville to see if it could be fixed. No such luck, both mechanics said....well could get to it next week...thanks buddy. So I bagged out on the remaining planned route (Lolo Motorway) and headed for Missoula. A ice cold beer at the Lochsa Lodge refreshed me and I hit up the Elk Meadows road back to Hwy 12.