Magruder Road Corridor

What the corridor is

The Forest Service describes a road that “winds through a vast undeveloped area, offering solitude and pristine beauty as well as expansive mountain views,” and that has changed little since the Civilian Conservation Corps built it in the 1930s. It was historically the southern Nez Perce Trail, the Elk City to Darby Road, the Montana Road and the Parker Trail, though today’s route does not follow the exact historic alignment. The area is the traditional homeland of the Nez Perce Tribe.

The corridor was created in 1980, when the Central Idaho Wilderness Act left this strip of ground outside the wilderness on either side. The result, in the agency’s words, is “a unique road that enables a traveler to drive between two wildernesses,” which together make the largest unroaded block of land in the lower 48 states.

It is named for Lloyd Magruder, an Elk City merchant murdered near mile 44.2 westbound in 1863 while returning from Virginia City with gold dust. His killers were pursued, tried in Lewiston and hanged, in what the Forest Service calls the first legal hanging in the Idaho territory.

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The road, west to east

From the Idaho end, Forest Road 468 leaves Red River Road 222 a third of a mile south of the old Red River Ranger Station, 65 miles east of Grangeville by State Highway 14. The first eight miles are a steady climb. Past Granite Springs Campground, Elk Mountain Road 285 branches northeast four drivable miles to Green Mountain Lookout, and from that junction the road winds steeply down into Bargamin Creek, where the guide says to drive slowly and watch for brakes heating up.

From Poet Creek Campground the road climbs steeply for eight miles with a few sharp curves to the Burnt Knob Lookout road, which the Forest Service recommends for four-wheel drive only. Dry Saddle Trailhead, at 7,920 feet, is the high ground; the road then drops to Sabe Saddle and climbs again to Sabe Vista at 7,490 feet, a stretch the guide calls very narrow and sometimes very steep, with few places to pass. Horse Heaven Saddle, at 7,070 feet, has a rentable 1939 cabin.

Past Salmon Mountain, where a one-mile trail climbs to a lookout at 8,944 feet, and Observation Point at 7,620 feet, the road reaches the Selway River at Magruder Crossing, the only place in the upper Selway drainage you can drive across the river, on a steel pony-truss bridge the CCC built in 1935.

East of the crossing the road passes the Magruder Ranger Station at 4,100 feet, an unstaffed site on the National Register of Historic Places, and Deep Creek with its CCC-built arched stone bridge. It then climbs to Nez Perce Pass at 6,598 feet and runs down a 14-mile section paved in the 1970s in anticipation of timber sales. The Montana end meets West Fork Road 0.8 miles south of the West Fork Ranger Station, 18 miles southwest of Darby.

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Vehicle, driver and time

The Forest Service is consistent on the vehicle: high clearance, and nothing long. The Nez Perce-Clearwater page calls the road “rough, steep and winding, with a few turnouts for passing oncoming vehicles,” suitable for high-clearance vehicles, pickup trucks, motorcycles and mountain bikes, and not recommended for low-clearance vehicles, motor homes or vehicles towing trailers. The guide gives the reason for the trailer advice: several hairpin turns. The Bitterroot page adds that conditions change quickly with weather, falling trees or washouts.

Four-wheel drive is recommended when the road is snow-covered or muddy, and for the spur to Burnt Knob Lookout. The rest of the time the limit is clearance, width and patience rather than traction.

Plan the day around the speed, not the mileage. The Forest Service expects an average of 12 to 15 miles per hour, and gives six to eight hours from Red River to Darby without rest stops on its Nez Perce-Clearwater page, eight to ten in the guide. Either way its recommendation is the same: “A two-day trip is ideal with an overnight stay at one of the dispersed or primitive campsite locations.”

Do not skipThe forests warn that services are extremely limited, cell coverage is spotty to nonexistent and emergency response may be delayed. Carry maps in hard copy or downloaded, because GPS devices may be unreliable here.

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Camping along the road

Campgrounds are small, free and first-come, first-served. Deep Creek, on the Montana side at 4,137 feet, has three sites, a vault toilet, hitch rail and stock feeders, and takes RVs or trailers up to 25 feet. Magruder Crossing, on the Selway River, has four sites and a vault toilet, and its back loop is narrow enough that the Forest Service advises against trailers longer than 16 feet. Neither has potable water, a fee or garbage service.

On the Idaho side the guide lists Granite Springs with four sites and a pit toilet, Poet Creek with four camping units, tables, fireplaces and pit toilets but no developed water, Observation Point, Raven Creek, Indian Creek and Paradise. Fales Flat is a reservable group site, as are the Horse Heaven cabin and the Magruder Ranger’s House.

For dispersed camping the guide gives the rules plainly: choose a site 200 feet from trails and water, use existing fire grates and fire rings, bury human waste at least 200 feet from water and trails, make sure the campfire is dead out, and pack out all trash, both yours and other people’s.

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Stay limits and food storage

The Northern Region’s occupancy order sets the limits, and they differ across the state line this road crosses. On national forests in Montana you may not camp at a single site for more than 16 consecutive days in a calendar year, or occupy any number of sites for more than 32 cumulative days. In Idaho the limits are 14 consecutive days and 28 cumulative days. A “site” means the campsite and all Forest Service land within a half-mile radius, so moving down the road a little does not reset the clock.

The same order bans possessing wood pallets or any material with nails or screws that could be used as firewood, and bans using refuse as targets for shooting. It runs to July 31, 2030.

Bears are the other rule. The Bitterroot National Forest’s food storage order applies annually from March 1 to December 1 on national forest land in the Montana portion of the forest. Food, refuse and anything that smells of food must be attended by someone awake within 100 feet and in sight of it, hung at least 10 feet off the ground and four feet from any supporting tree, stored in a certified bear-resistant container, or locked in a closed vehicle or hard-sided building with the windows shut. Both black bears and grizzly bears may be present.

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Fuel, water and services

There are none on the road. The guide’s sentence is the one to plan around: “Remember you are traveling through an extensive undeveloped area with no services for 117 miles. Be sure you start with a vehicle in good operating condition, a full tank of gas and a spare tire.” The Bitterroot page repeats it: no fuel stations, so carry extra fuel, water, food and emergency gear, and tools for remote travel.

Water has to be treated. The guide says water from springs, lakes, ponds and streams should not be drunk without boiling for more than five minutes or using a water filter, because giardia may be present, and suggests carrying extra. None of the campgrounds along the corridor has potable water.

The staffed offices at either end are the places to ask before you start: the Elk City Ranger Station at (208) 842-2245 and the West Fork Ranger District outside Darby at (406) 821-3269. Both forests encourage visitors to stop in for maps, road conditions and weather, and after hours there is an interpretive sign at the old Red River Ranger Station and a map outside the West Fork office.

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Season and hazards

Snow, not a calendar, decides the season. The joint guide says snow begins to fall in early October and persists into July, and that snowstorms are possible at any time. The Bitterroot National Forest adds that snow, downed trees and lingering wet conditions often delay opening until mid to late summer, and that early winter storms can make the route impassable with little notice. Check current conditions before departure, every time.

The road gets busier in two seasons. The guide notes it has become more popular for ATV travel in the summer months, and that it can be very busy during the Idaho hunting season, from mid-September through mid-November, when the trailheads and camps along it fill.

Wildfire has shaped this country and you drive through the evidence: the guide points out fire scars dating from 1988 onwards visible from Sabe Vista. It also asks drivers to stay alert for other traffic, washouts, fallen trees and debris, which is the practical hazard on a one-lane road with few turnouts.

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Leaving it as you found it

The corridor is a road through wilderness rather than into it. Motorized and mechanized travel is not permitted in a designated wilderness, so stay on the road: the boundary is at its edge on both sides for most of its length.

Weed-free feed is a legal requirement, not a courtesy. Since 1996 all forage and mulch used on national forest land in Idaho and Montana must be certified weed-seed-free, and the guide encourages feeding stock weed-seed-free feed for at least 72 hours before a visit.

The rest is the standard set, stated for this road specifically: camp 200 feet from trails and water, use existing fire rings, bury human waste, leave campfires dead out, and pack out all garbage, because no campground on the corridor has collection.

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Questions people ask