Montana Tacomas

Holy hell! I recognize that first photo. That's RIGHT after the Y and the tight switch back turn that begins this trail. Crazy washed out!

 

correct.

its pretty bad.

 

Had a friend tell me recently she and friends got a truck stuck in water on the way up BEFORE Independence. Didn't make sense to me. Now it does... that stretch is normally a tiny bit of water crossing the trail.

 

The creek got diverted, it has washed it out good. I tried to make it so it wouldn't flow as much on the road but not a lot I could do.

There is a large boulder now right in the middle that causes some major issues with getting up that spot. Plus then its deeper above it. And then higher up there is another spot that will get interesting after a while, its rough not and tight.

The boulder will stop most people from making it though in any kind of truck. Tapped my t case on it on the way down. Struggled to get around it/over it going up without a locker.

 

Geez. So, almost impassable. I wonder if the FS will clean it up or shut it down...

 

not impassible, but if they don't fix it it will be even for UTVs. One more winter with that creek draining through the road and there won't be much of a road.

 

hey guys, Im driving out from VA to Belgrade on the 9th. I should get to Bozeman on the 12th. Would anyone want a 2nd gen LB bed cover (non-folding, canvas not fiberglass) for free? It has a couple holes drilled in the cross bars. Comes with all mounting hardware too - 4x Tnuts and bolts. Or would anyone be know where I could dump it or leave it in their trash?

 

Someone is getting a GFC lol

 

When I dropped the Drifter onto mine, I ended up having to throw my tri-fold tonneau in a friend's dumpster.

 

Thats what i am looking to do. Any way your friend could lend me his dumpster?

 

Unfortunately that particular dumpster is much closer to Vagabond Outdoors in California.

 

Just drop it at the Bozeman convenience site, minimal cost. Or post up on Bozeman's craigslist, that seems to have more Tacoma parts traffic than this forum.

 

Facebook marketplace seems to be more popular than CL over here... Is CL the king of used-parts in the Bozeman area?

 

Oh good question - I bet FB marketplace is popular too, probably more so that CL. I don't use FB so I can't really say, though.

 

I have an FB account, but it's only for marketplace and patch groups.
Fake name, fake picture, fake info, etc... Had to have a few "friends" before they'd approve the account to have access to marketplace, so I added a few friends. The fake birthday threw them off.

 

For anyone who's been looking for places to shoot on public land around the Butte/Bozeman range, I checked out Revenue Flats today and there are a good few established spots there. When I was done looking for shooting spots there I tried to exit via some roads shown on google maps and found out the last quarter mile or so was gated as private property on both roads. Those roads being the one that connects to North Meadow Creek Road from the east, and the last bit of Meadow Lark Lane. So you have to come in/out Warm Springs Creek Road or Sterling Road.

Also thought I'd check out the Sureshot lakes while I was there. I couldn't quite get over that last hill right before the lower lake as it requires lockers, big tires, or lots of flex, none of which I have. Maxtrax got me 3/4 the way through, but I just backed down after I saw there were jeeps on the other side already parked at the lake. The upper lake was super easy to get to though. I watched the fish jump for 2 hours with no bites, but the area is really nice. Anyone ever have any luck fishing there?

Thinking of trying to get to some of the other lakes in the bitterroot mountains as well such as the South Meadow Creek, Branham, Noble, and Upper/Lower Boulder Lakes. Just using google maps satellite to see which ones have trails going to them. Anyone ever go to any of these places?

 

Was meadow tight because of trees, or because of large rocks? I picked up a 16" electric chainsaw specifically for taking on the trails to avoid last year's bedside incident becoming a recurring event. Were the rocks bad to the point of skids being needed? I'd like to check it out if I can, but if it's a waste of time better suited for SxS or ATVs I'll pass.
I'll have to check out branham for sure then, hopefully the mosquitos won't be a huge problem.
The Boulder Lakes are on the east side of the forest service area, looks like you could get to it from Dry Boulder Road.

 

Boulder lakes in the tabbaco roots is not supposed to be a hard road at all.

There are others there that are though.