Hakum when I get so much to write about I neva? Seems like my life is so busy and I forget to update our 2010 road trip! Pretty soon I going get lost about where we were! Maybe I should make one New Year’s resolution. Update da bloggie, Moki!!

K’den. We’ve just left the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove, right? But we’re still travelling along the Lochsa River.

Looking back the way we’ve come. It’s really hard to explain how much we loved driving alongside this wild river. Nolemana dreamt about fishing in it, and I enjoyed its beauty and peaceful area.

But the road stretched out before us, beckoning us to see what was around the next curve in the road. Driving along with so few other cars was pure pleasure; if we wanted to stop and take a photo in the middle of the road, we could. Me watching the rear view mirror, of course!

There were lots of places where there were rocks placed alongside the road, and we figured that they were to help prevent small kine erosion or to help with drainage.

We were climbing higher and higher. In this photo you can see that we’re ‘way above the river now. We wondered if there had been a fire in the areas where there were no trees.

There were still some patches of snow high up, but none near where we were driving. But that was about to change.

Ho! I was right! Had fiyah!!

Did you know that Black-Backed Woodpeckers depend entirely on blackened forests, and are known as an “eruptive species”, fluctuating in numbers in response to the outbreaks of bark beetles that feed on fire killed or damaged trees”? I didn’t know that! See? That’s why I love to stop and read alla signs along da way!

About a minute or so later, we came to another Lewis and Clark sign.

This sign explained more about the Lolo Pass area.

And yeah, I still laugh every time I see any kine “lolo”. I definitely have to be tri-lingual to keep everything all straight. “Tri?” you ask. Well, yeah. Hawaiian, pidgin, and English. See?

Try look da river ‘way down there! That’s how much we’ve climbed up.

No can seeyum good? K’den. I wen zoom in foa u.

I’ll even frame it between the trees for you. Ho da nani, yeah?

It was so beautiful up here; it was hard to keep going. But we did open the windows so we could get a whiff of the crystal clear air. Mountain vastness was all around us.

One mile to Lolo Pass! This was an important milestone on our trip, not just because we’d never been here before, and not even because of the Lolo. I can’t exactly tell you why, except that it felt like a big deal on this long road trip.

Oh… more fire. But then more Black-Backed Woodpeckers, right? Part of the natural cycle of life.

Snow! And trails! Oh, how I wished we’d had more time to explore!

Lolo Pass Visitor Center. Elevation 5225′. It was even open, and now I wish we’d gone ahead and gone inside. But we had to make it all the way to Bozeman, which was a long way off. But next time, we going!

Shoots. Smoke coming out the chimney, and nobody else there. We could’ve had the ranger to ourselves to answer all our questions. Next time foa shua. Too bad we didn’t have to go shi shi.

This sign talks about how the beautiful byway commemorates the 1803-1806 expedition by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find the most practicable water route between the Missouri River and the Columbia River through the unexplored Rocky Mountains. When I think of how things were back then and the two men and their companions making their way through this country, I continue to be in awe.

Lolo Summit. Here we were, right where Lewis and Clark were two-hundred and five years before. Amazing. Just amazing.

Ground squirrel.

It sure would’ve been fun to hike a little ways up there.

K’den. We’re at the summit. We’ve climbed up to it, and now you know what happens next. Next time… downhill. Stick around, yeah?