The Daisy Creek Trail

Yesterday we cleared the first three miles of the Daisy Creek Trail, F.S. trail 604. The first mile and a half of it is fairly flat as it follows an old road that lead to the Iron Daisy mine which operated intermittently from 1894 to 1936. From there the trail climbs somewhat steeply for another 4 miles or so into the Mount Bushnell roadless area where it meets the long CC Divide trail 404. Our three miles included a vertical climb of about 800 feet.

Some of the down trees were quite large, and it is much more difficult to cut out and remove those that came to rest fairly high above the trail. This was my third day of trail work and I could tell that the physical conditioning was starting to have an effect, at least to the extent that my exhaustion was not quite total at the end of the day. Although we didn’t see any or hear any bugle, this is prime elk country and I imagine there will be an elk hunter or two who will be pleased to use a clear trail on his hunt this fall.

(The Daisy Creek trail follows Daisy Creek which flows into Prospect Creek about 11 miles west of Thompson Falls, Montana. Because of the persistent vandalism that seems to be present at all trail heads reachable by motor vehicles, the signs marking the start of the trail have been torn down and destroyed: one must carefully look for it after studying the Lolo National Forest map. Once again I feel compelled to remark that the sign in the first photo is a mile or so up the trail itself where it has remained for 80 years, free from the criminal activity always associated with motor vehicle accessibility. The entire area is heavily wooded, with cedar, fir, pine, and some huge old larch which reach almost 200 feet into the sky.)