Gravelly Range, SW Montana - Four Days and 100 Miles of Dirt
- Thread starter sharalds
- Start date
gophere
Adventurer
Awesome, have fun!
I'm hitting this route pretty closely in early July. Starting in Zootown south down the Bitterroot to lost trail then east to the Big Hole-one of my favorite places-, Banack,and the Big Sheep Creek route. Then on through North Shore and up to Virginia City via the Gavelly. Bozeman layover and over to Bighorn Canyon to do some boating. Thinking of doing the Boulder River Rd again on the way home.
Never been to Bighorn Canyon, just an area I've never got around to hitting up. Looks too good to miss.
Love me some Big Hole!
If you haven't been to Twin Lakes, accessed from MT 278 between Jackson and Wisdom, it's a great out and back. Unfortunately can't connect to Jackson by Miner Lakes due to gated private roads, but the lake itself and the little NF campground and foot-trails around it are splendid. Also, if you haven't been to the low divide between the Big Hole River and the headwaters of Horse Creek (a tributary named Bloody ******** Creek--I am NOT making that up-supposedly named for a particularly violent 1880s settler named Richard. Beaverhead County and the Nat Forest Service gave up on replacing the road signs decades ago, so you've got to know where you are by map or GPS), you can reach Grant from Jackson by going south past the Van Houten CGs and Skinner Meadows, enter the woods , cross the low pass, and pass by Reservoir Lake and its NF CG at the upper end of Bloody ********. Very nice drive across the floor of the Big Hole to Skinner and through the woods and down the Grant side. It's a quick run north up Bannack Bench Road to Bannack from Grant if you want to visit there. Unless something has changed, however, there are no services and no fuel in Grant (or Bannack), so leave Wisdom or Jackson with what you'll need until you reach Dell or Lima via Big Sheep Creek.
Foy
gophere
Adventurer
Great info. Haven't got to Twin lakes yet but have been told to for sure!
I've done the bloody ******** before and it's another awesome little spot, besides getting sections washed out once in awhile real easy route. I have been through the area quite a few times. Only real new stuff for me is the thread title I guess, Gravelly area. I usually go through red rocks so figured I'd mix it up abit and head north.