Dates
Aug 1st - Aug 7th 2010
Service Project
Campsite rehabilitation & trail maintenance 
Free Days
Day hike to area peaks, fishing, photography, wildlife & wildflower viewing
Accommodations
Backpack camping
Trip Rating
Strenuous : 10-mile backpack. Pack animal supported. Digging, bending, lifting.
Leaders
Debra Ellers
Mike Leonard
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The Bitterroot Mountains form a rugged, glacier-carved border between Idaho and Montana. On both sides of this border is the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, the third largest Wilderness in the Lower 48. Designated by Congress in 1964, it consists of 1.3 million acres. Only the 600-foot-wide Nez Perce Trail, an unimproved dirt road, separates the Selway-Bitterroot from the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, at almost 2.4 million acres, the largest Wilderness in the lower 48.
Below raw granite peaks, its steep ridges and deep canyons are covered with thick coniferous forest. Hidden low valleys are rich with old-growth cedar, fir, and larch, and extensive stands of subalpine spruce and fir can be found higher up. Hardly any humans visit the huge trailless portions of this Wilderness, which makes it all the more appealing for the large Selway elk herd, plus deer, moose, black bears, and mountain lions.
Water is plentiful in lakes, bogs, and marshes and the trout fishing can be excellent in mountain lakes. By late July, wildflower blooms are aplenty.
Our service project is conducting much-needed campsite rehabilitation in a popular destination of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness known as The Crags. We'll backpack in approximately 10 miles, with overall elevation loss of 400', and set up our backcountry camp near Old Man Lake at 5500'. The project entails first conducting an inventory of camps, making decisions with our Clearwater National Forest crew, and strategically obliterating some campsites and fire pits, reducing others to appropriate size, and cleaning up unburned debris. Expect much lifting and hauling of boulders, bending and digging in fire pits. We may conduct some trail maintenance depending on the extent of rehabilitation work required. A volunteer packer will provide pack animal support to carry in group food, kitchen gear and tools.
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