Thursday, April 5, 2018

Petty Creek Loop

I've been meaning to post more ride descriptions and routes, and I just rode this a week or so ago so I might as well post about it.

Petty creek goes into the clark fork near Alberton, and there is a bridge, and fishing access where it meets the river. Petty creek road continues 13 miles to the top of a pass, where it becomes Graves creek road and descends down to highway 12 west of Lolo. From Missoula, this creates a loop of 80-90 miles depending on the starting point, and the new path from Lolo to Missoula makes the last section of the ride much more pleasant. The upper part of petty creek all the way to highway 12 is dirt, but this can be done with no problems on a road bike, especially with larger, more durable tires (I have some 27mm vittorias that work well for rides like this).



Getting to Frenchtown is fairly straightforward so I'm not going to get into too much detail on that part. Take your pick of big flat, mullan, or expressway depending on the starting point. Then in Frenchtown there are two options- there's the frontage road past the high school and pond, but I prefer the south side of the interstate to the Huson onramp as there is less traffic. If you don't need to stop at the store, you can cut through the elementary school before crossing the train tracks on mullan.

From the Huson ramp, you can ride the interstate to the nine mile onramp, or go up 6-mile/9-mile road to the ranger station and then down remount. This is longer, has more climbing, and some dirt, but it's quiet and scenic. The interstate has a very wide shoulder, and is not all that bad to ride on, and it's only about 2 miles, so either way is fine. I've highlighted the alternate route in orange here:


Take the ninemile exit, turn right, go up the hill, and descend down over a bridge, past what's left of the ninemile house, and along a nice road into Alberton. It's good to stop at the store for a water refill and a snack as it's a pretty long way to Lolo. If you don't need anything, you can take a little shortcut from the frontage road straight down to Petty and avoid going into town. From the river you climb 9.8 miles on some of the smoothest pavement in the state, at a gentle average grade. It turns to dirt and gets a little steeper for the last 3 miles to the top. The strava segment and stats for the whole thing can be found here:

https://www.strava.com/segments/9299702

While there are a few junctions along the way, the main road over the top and down to the highway is pretty clear, and I can't think of any turns you need to make, here is a gpx track with the important parts of the route.

From the top of Petty creek down to highway 12 is 4 miles on a dirt road. You will pass the lumberjack saloon, which has decent burgers and beer if you're on that kind of a ride. Then it is 16 miles on highway 12 to Lolo. This section is downhill, but generally into a headwind, and takes more effort and time than you would expect. There is a quite a bit of traffic on the road and this is the worst part of the whole ride. Once you get to lolo there are places to get snacks and water (or beer at the brewery) and it's an easy ride back to town on the trail.

here's a strava ride with the whole loop

https://www.strava.com/activities/527644541

And here are a few pictures from rides we've done on this route over the years






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