Winter Time on Lolo Pass

“A Place That Sticks With You”

This year for Pete’s birthday, I surprised him with a night in a cabin at Lochsa Lodge on the Idaho side of Lolo Pass (I’ve come a long way from his birthday last year, when I stuck a bow on a bag of beef jerky). I had been up to Lolo Pass a number of times while I was in college–there are several undeveloped hot springs (see below) that are a huge draw for university students in nearby Missoula–and it was one of those places that stuck with me. It is amazingly beautiful country, that has hardly been touched by civilization.

History and Overview:

Lolo Pass crosses the Bitterroot Mountains about 40 miles west of Missoula, MT on Highway 12. The top of the pass is the border between Montana and Idaho (and also where you change from Mountain to Pacific time). On the Montana side flows Lolo Creek. On the Idaho side, the highway follows the Lochsa River as it winds down the mountain. The area was originally inhabited by the Salish, Nez Perce, and occasionally the Pend Oreille Indians. The pass was even part of the route of the Nez Perce’s famous flight from the US Army. Later fur trappers and traders traveled over the pass, but didn’t settle there. Now the area is largely pristine wilderness, with plenty of campgrounds, trails, and of course, hot springs to explore.

Lochsa Lodge:

Someday, we will have to try out Lolo Hot Springs on the Montana side of the pass, which I believe is your classic hotel and hot springs combo, but for this adventure, I decided to go with the more rustic and cozy feel of Lochsa Lodge on the Idaho side. While the Montana side is a little more developed, Lochsa Lodge and the Lolo Pass Visitor Center are pretty much the only two developed areas on the western side of the mountains. For that reason, Lochsa Lodge is a good place to be aware of, because along with the cabins and restaurant, there is also a gas station and a convenience store, which are always a handy resource to travelers.

There are two options for cabins at Lochsa. We chose a rustic cabin with just a bed, a couple small tables, and a wood stove (it was so cold that quickly became my favorite spot). Keys to a shared bath and shower house are provided. But you could also stay in the more modern cabins that have bathrooms in them, as well as electric heat and even TVs with DVD players. And all guests have access to the lodge itself, which includes a gift shop, sitting area complete with a cozy fireplace, a restaurant, and a bar. And the best part: pets are allowed for a small fee of $15 each, so our boys got to come along!

We had dinner in the lodge, and I found a spot right in front of the fire place. The atmosphere was warm and romantic (which might have something to do with the Valentine’s decorations on the windows), and the food was excellent. Pete had a burger, and I went I little healthier with salmon and wild rice with a huckleberry glaze. In the morning, we came back for some very satisfying pancakes and eggs. Even if you are just passing through, I definitely recommend stopping to eat at this restaurant!

The decor was a mix of cheerful and classic hunting lodge

Weir Hot Springs:

As mentioned above, there are a number of hot springs up on Lolo Pass. Lolo Hot Springs is developed with a hotel, but there are several others that are simply pools held by a dam of rocks (I do suspect at least some human intervention) where the hot springs mix with water from the various creeks. In college, our preferred destination was Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. Several of my friends had also been to Weir and recommended it, but I had somehow never made it. So when I had to pick, we went with Weir, despite my curiosity about how Jerry Johnson looks these days (it washed out several years ago, and has since been rebuilt).

The weather also influenced our decision, since it was forecasted to be in the teens and twenties, we liked the idea of a slightly shorter hike and deeper pools that we could be more fully immersed in. The trailhead is roughly 20 miles west of Lochsa (10 past Jerry Johnson, which has one of several walking bridges across the river). It is just a 0.7 mile hike to the pools from the small parking area complete with outhouse on the north side of Highway 12 (the opposite side from the river). It is not a particularly strenuous hike up along Weir Creek to the pools, but it was very icy this time of year (more on that misadventure in a minute).

We found two pools–a larger one that held at least ten people and a smaller one that only comfortably held two–but another hiker told us there was at least one more down by the creek. We were lucky enough to get the two person one, since the larger one was fairly crowded, and had a lovely hour and a half long soak. Because of the cold, we had our exit strategy planned out and ready to go, so we could get dried off and dressed again in a hurry.

And it was COLD!!

A Lesson in Winter:

You would think that being born in Wyoming and growing up in Montana I would have learned this one simple truth: never trust the weather man.

But no, no I haven’t. Our weather apps said it was going to be in the teens and twenties, so that is what we packed for. Unfortunately, it seems no one shared that plan with the weather itself. The warmest it ever got was 4 degrees. We managed to gather together enough layers for our short hike to the hot springs, and decided to hope for the best.

The best, however, was not exactly what happened. We were also warned, both by a friend at home and by the woman at the front desk at Lochsa that the trail to Weir was icy. Being relatively reasonable people, we took reasonable precautions, and packed cleats.

The lesson I was about to learn was that, when it comes to ice cleats, you get exactly what you pay for.

Pete has a pair of Ice Trekkers, which cost him about 40 bucks, and they worked fairly well although he still managed to fall on his butt at one point. I, on the other hand, had spent about $10 on a pair of cleats at Costco, and they had what had been up to this point a merely annoying tendency to pop off while I was walking.

Made nervous by Pete’s spill, I tried to go carefully and stay low to the ground over the icy spots. But unfortunately–just 100 feet or so from the hot springs–I lost my footing, and not only fell, but slid off the trail and down the side of the hill toward the creek bed.

I tried to dig in my cleats to stop myself, and they popped right off. Pete even saw one of them fly up in the air above me. So I was left to continue sliding a good thirty feet until I was brought to an abrupt stop…by a tree.

All in all, I do think I got fairly lucky. Although I had a collection of small bruises all over my body, only my left shin was badly bruised (probably all the way to the bone). I had to pay for my sins by taking it easy for a couple of weeks with my leg propped up with an ice pack, watching it change sizes and go through just about every color in the rainbow. But the tree saved me from landing in the rocky creek bed below, which could easily have ended my thirty two year streak with no broken bones (knock on wood). Worse still, if I had been injured and gotten wet, my accident could have easily become a tragedy on 4 degree day.

So I am actually fairly grateful for that tree, but needless to say, I will be investing in some nicer ice cleats.

Lolo Peak Brewing Company:

We had intended to do some hiking the next day, but because of my bum leg and the fact that by midmorning it had “warmed up to a balmy negative 2 degrees” (according to the ranger at Lolo Pass Visitor Center), we opted out. We did however take the dogs to one of the closed campgrounds, and let them run around a little, which they enjoyed, although even our snow loving dogs are not that fond of extremely cold weather.

Then we returned to our nice warm truck and headed back to Lolo. We were a little concerned that we were going to hit it too early in the day for a brewery to be open, but happily Lolo Peak has a regular liquor license, so they are able to keep longer hours than the average brewery.

I had been to Lolo Peak once before, but it had been so long I didn’t remember any of their beers, so when we found out we could do flights with either 4, 8, or 12 beers, we figured “Why not go for 12?” That would give us a sampling of all of their beers. (For my explanation of why we order flights, see our White Sulphur Springs post.)

We figured with a flight of 12 that we would only get a shot-sized amount of each beer, but we forgot about Lolo Peak’s liquor license. Not only can they have longer hours, but there is no limit to how much alcohol they can serve you. Our sample glasses were much taller than we were expecting, and when we asked the bartender we learned that a flight of 12 was the equivalent of four pints of beer!

Happily, we were in no hurry, and the brewery is also a full restaurant. So we ordered a plate of delicious nachos, and settled in to try our beers. I must confess, that after we sipped on some of our least favorites–in our case mostly lighter beers–we did abandon a few of them in order to save room for the ones we really enjoyed. The nitro, the scotch ale, and the chocolate caramel stout were some of our favorites.

It was also a pleasant place to hang out on a cold day. It was warm, for one, and the rustic, lodge-like decor felt very in keeping with the rest of our weekend. I particularly enjoyed the leaves and footprints stamped into the counter, giving our bar seats a little extra character. The staff was friendly, and the food was delicious. If you ever find yourself passing through Lolo, this place is worth a stop.

In Conclusion:

Hot springs, dark beer, and cozy, fire lit lodges are staples of Montanan winter recreation, and this weekend was very in keeping with those traditions (with a few bruises and some very cold fingers thrown in to spice things up). But beyond our pleasant winter weekend, Lolo Pass is just a crazy beautiful place–one we are hoping to explore more.

Even in the winter there are lots of options, particularly if you are lucky enough to catch it in the predicted teens and twenties rather than temperatures hovering right around zero. Many of the campgrounds and recreation areas have been groomed for cross-country skiing, and the snow is deep enough that you could snowshoe many of the trails. Several old logging roads are open to snowmobiling.

And in the summer, access is even easier. There are campgrounds, trailheads, and fishing accesses galore, and we will definitely be back to explore some of these options and share what we find with you.

So, even if you are just passing through to somewhere else (we cut across last year on our way to Boise), I wholeheartedly recommend going a little out of your way to check out this amazing little pocket of mountains, woods, and river. If you don’t have time to stop and explore, that’s ok; it is worth it just for the drive. And you may find, as I did, that the place just sticks with you, calling you back again and again.