Overall Route Rating
speedo-meter speedo-arrow
speedo-meter-grey
4.47 out of 5 Rider Rating 4.47
15 Reviews

Motorcycle Route Author

profile Image
By MCR Contributor (1039 McR Points) on May 22, 2011

Rider Reviews

No Image Found
HaraldGS
2 McR Points
June 16, 2019
Rode this road from St Regis to St Maries today…
Thumbsup
aka Big Red
2 McR Points
September 24, 2017
My Wife and I rode this road from St. Regis to St…
Thumbsup

Written Directions

From St. Maries, ID, east along the St. Joe River for 75 miles. At the junction with Road 218, FS 50 heads north (left) and climbs 14 miles over the divide to the Idaho-Montana border. Be aware if coming from the East that the intersection in St Regis can be a bit confusing.Check out a good map. This road is deserted and much like the well know LoLo pass road which parallels it. Same type of road till you hit Avery,nice curvy route along the rivers edge! From Avery on it gets tighter and deserted and the road runs at higher elevations compared to the river, and has much higher drop-offs over the edges and a lot of tighter corners. Fun ride! Makes a great loop with the Lolo route.

Scenery

You will see beautiful Rivers, Mountains,Forest on this wonderful twisting lonely backroad nature tour!

Drive Enjoyment

100 miles of twisties and elevation.Follows the edge of the St Joe River. No traffic,usually deserted. If you can't handle some dust, then be aware there is a few miles of easy hardpack gravel surface on the MT side and you are in St Regis ,MT on I-90. No problem at all for our sportbikes. This is why you won't see many bikes on this route! Too bad more of the great roads didn't have a mile of gravel on each end! :) . Be warned, there is some hard pack gravel at the East end heading down the mtn towards St regis.

Tourism Opportunities

Lots at each end, not much in between. No need for a few hours anyway!
 

Top Images

Share Your Comments ( 15 )
  Earn McR Points
No Image Found
MrSix
June 1, 2016
0 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring
We did this as a return route from Lolo - and this was a FAR superior ride. The dirt was well packed, just a little marble-ly in places but no issue. Empty road, amazing scenery, sweet twisties.
Was this road review helpful?
Thumbsup
1 riders found this road review useful
No Image Found
Black Bandit
February 18, 2013
43 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring
This is indeed a great ride that we did in conjunction with Lolo. The only problem we ran into was the bridge that you cross the river shortly after hitting the pavement in Idaho was being rebuilt so we could not get across. The helpful flagman suggested that we could take the detour road. When I asked him if was any worse than the gravel we rode on from St. Regis he said it was about the same. In reality it was graded out of the mountain side and would have been great on a dirt bike but not so great on road bikes. We did make it with no mishaps or flats though. Definitely want to do it again.
Was this road review helpful?
Thumbsup
1 riders found this road review useful
Martin Wahl
August 18, 2019
24 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring
This is a great ride as many of the other reviews have stated. The first time we did the full ride we came from St. Regis down the hard pack gravel road, gravel added since then, and hit the pavement at the Idaho border. There were signs saying some road was closed, couple letters and the number 50 if i remember correctly. unfortunately there was never a road sign that matched that description and it wasn't until shortly after we hit the pavement that we found it was the road we were on. The first bridge which was being replaced and so no crossing there. We asked the flagman, through the dope smoke around him, what our options were. He said there was a route around the bridge that we could take and only one vehicle had got a flat that week using it. Asking how it compared to the gravel road we had just ridden he said it was comparable. Obviously he was pretty high if he ever did follow the detour route as the previous gravel was an interstate in comparison. I think a grader had hacked it out of the mountain the week before. No signage either unlike what our helpful flagman had indicated. VTX 1800, Bandit 1250, Vstrom 1000, and several other street bikes all made it safely, with no flats, to St. Maries. Have done the route once more that way and as an in-out from St. Maries just on the pavement. Relatively interesting bar and museum in Avery if you need a stop en route.
Was this road review helpful?
Thumbsup
0 riders found this road review useful