Upper Selway River, above Paradise

[WFox43]

Gents and ladies,

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Idaho and adjacent parts of Montana for July 2011. We plan an east to west traverse of the Magruder Road and will hopefully spend a few days in the vicinity of the upper Selway, near or at the Magruder Ranger Station. From what I can gather online, the Selway there is similar to Rock Creek, MT (east and south of Missoula, in Lolo NF) in terms of drainage basin size and streamflow characteristics.

I've yet to read any comments concerning fishing the upper Selway, however, perhaps since it's fairly out-of-the-way to day-trippers. Any observations, comments, or tips for the segment from Paradise (the float-trip put-in north of Magruder Road) on up to and beyond the Magruder Ranger Station would be greatly appreciated. Comments concerning small streams accessed off of Magruder Road, particularly on the western end and more particularly to the north (Selway tributaries in the vicinity of Elk Mountain/Green Mountain) would be appreciated, too, as we're looking at some hiking opportunities up that way, north and east of the Green Mountain lookout tower, where the road ends at the border with the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

Any comments much appreciated.

WFox43
Raleigh, NC
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[windriver]

Welcome to BFT. Sorry I don't have any information on that particular area.

Windriver
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[montanaman]

Where will you be driving from and too? Darby to Grangeville?

You will be in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness area. It is very, very remote. Before I mention the fishing, here are a few things I would plan on.

1. It can snow heavy any day of the year. Bring winter/survival gear/Bear spray/ 'squeet repellant.
2. Carry 2 spare tires minimum for your 4WD vehicle, recommend 10ply. chains as well.
3. Bring "at least" a 72 hour kit per person
4. Check in with the ranger at each location and let them know your route and destination.
5. Sign up for "spot" or some other GPS locator device.
6. Purchase an Idaho topo map like Delorme makes and/ or get maps at the ranger stations.
7. If you can, bring a revolver in a holster, .45 cal minimum and extra ammo. You can scare the bears away with noise but you'll likely never see the cats or wolves.
8. Don't hike alone and make sure your companion is armed as well.

My 2 cents.

Better safe than sorry.

Fishing:

The upper Selway and other creeks (there are many) in the area, I regard as "Spring Creeks". Small fish, but a blast on any rod size from an O wt to a 7 foot 3 wt. About any small dry fly will work. You don't say if you are fly fishing, so if using lures, bring small ones and a real light spin rod with 2-4 LB test. You will catch more fish using a flyrod though.

I don't know how long you plan to stay, but if the recommendation for visiting Glacier National Park is a month, I would plan on at least 2 weeks in that area if you can.[]

The hiking is mind blow. Remember you will be at 8K+ feet in elevation. Coming from Raleigh, you have 9 months to get in shape.[]

Hope this helps. I'm sure other's will add there comments.
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[BorntoFish01]

Good safety advice Montanaman.......you can never be overprepared when venturing out in remote wilderness areas.

I was on a fire management team that managed 29 fires in that area [including Magruder Ranger Station] over a period of 5 weeks back in 2000. While my job as logistics chief pretty much kept me close to our command post near Darby, the experiences and scenes described by our fire crews were overwhelming. It is extremely rugged and challenging country.

One story shared with me by a fire crew was a description of huge fish they saw in one of the rivers...can't recall if it was the Selway. At any rate, since they weren't fishermen they couldn't identify them but it sounded like either salmon or steelhead to me. Sorry I can't provide more intel, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable on the area can help, and I wouldn't hesitate to call the USFS Forest Supervisor's office in Hamilton, Montana and talk to their fisheries staff to get their take on the locations you intend to spend time in.

Good luck, and be safe.
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[WFox43]

windriver, Montanaman, and Borntofish01,

Many thanks for the welcome and the advice. I am in fact planning to travel from Darby (Conner) MT through to Elk City, ID. I'll be running a 4WD pickup with 10-ply tires, 2 spares, onboard air compressor, a 12,000lb winch, and a big box of tire repair gear, belts, hoses, filters, and tools. If I have a big problem, it's my own fault for doing something dumb, and I manage to avoid that for the most part.

I have not looked in to the bear situation along that corridor. Is it Griz country, black bear country, or both?

Our trip is primarily a backcountry traverse with a little trout fishing thrown in. We're two couples in their 50s, the guys being geology school classmates from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC back in the mid-1970s. We hope to book a few nights at the Magruder Ranger Station so would fish the Selway and some tribs right from there. Elsewhere, we'd want to look at the alpine lakes below the Burnt Knob Lookout, Running Creek and Lynx Creek near Warm Springs Bar outfitter station, and any other waters, particularly alpine lakes, within an hour or two walk from the Magruder Road or its spurs.

All in all, we're looking at 5 days in the area and will head for the Pioneer Range + Grasshopper Valley and the Big Hole in MT for another 7 days after that. If we ended up fishing all of 2 days while along the Magruder, that's about all we'd have time for with all of the driving and hiking we like to do. We've been to Glacier and many other MT and ID high-traffic locales, and we're old and curmudgeonly enough to vastly prefer places where we can go hide for a few days, so the Magruder Corridor is right up there with Rock Creek, MT and the more out-of-the way canyons on the west side of the Big Hole.

Thanks again for the info. If anybody else has on-the-spot intel for the upper Selway and its tribs, particularly near Elk Mountain and Green Mountain Lookout, and Burnt Knob lookout, I'd love to hear it.

WFox43
Raleigh, NC
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