![]() ![]() There is a hotel, fuel and Restrauant in Elk City, Idaho which is a good launch point going east and the same services are available in Darby, Montana going west. It is a side road and does not have to be traversed. I have never been up Burnt Knob because of its difficulty for a heavy bike and it is too far from medical assistance. It can be rated from moderate to difficult sometimes. The road has been different each year depending on the weather and the last time maintenance has been done. However I recommend an early start in case you have to deal with a breakdown. The locals in the Restrauant told us we could not make it to Darby before dark but we did. We were riding it west to east and stopped in Elk City to fuel a little after 12:00 noon. We ran it in 6 hours in 2018 on KLR’s, which is not hard, but not many stops either. The last week in September it usually snows, so be alert. I have ridden this road on a motorcycle 7 times, 4 times going east and 3 going west. Average speed on the road is about 20 miles per hour. The section leading down into the Selway (from the Idaho side) has been recently improved. There are some outstanding vistas along the way. In a number of spots we encountered vehicles coming from the other direction that required one vehicle to back up to a wide enough spot in the road that both could pass. I also recommend using a high clearance vehicle with excellent tires. Now we would NEVER attempt this drive with out a chain saw. It took another hour but we were finally able to clear the road and continue. ![]() We waited for about an hour until someone coming from the other side had a saw. The first time we drove it we were halted by a downed tree across the road. Much of the route is steep and rocky and passes through a great deal of burned timber but there are also areas of thick pine forest and pristine streams. It is basically a single lane gravel road that winds through the wilderness for approximately 60 miles, depending on where you calibrate the start and stop. ![]() This time the road was is better shape than the first time we drove it several years ago but it is still challenging. It was the 2nd & 3rd time we had driven the route. My husband and I drove to and from our backcountry ranch in Idaho to Darby MT via the Magruder Corridor. We finished the trail so fast (six hours instead of the expected 8 as other reviews stated) we were able to make it all the way to Idaho Falls before dinner on our way to Yellowstone. We stayed in a hotel in Grangeville the night before the trail which is about an hour away from the start, then went across towards Darby. It's a gorgeous day drive worth doing once. Most were ravaged by a fire so it's almost got a creepy vibe but still amazing. That said there are a couple places on the trail that could be nerve wracking for novice drivers because of a steep drop on one side and narrow roadway making passing of another vehicle came from the other direction challenging, however there are plenty of pull out spots if you're used to off-roading this will not bother you in the least. I repeat: the trail itself should not give you any car problems. So even if you had car problems you'd eventually run into human contact it's not the most remote place I've ever been. There were also people camping in some of the camp sites along the way. It would be a bad place to break down however we did the trail in Aug and did pass about seven or eight trucks total, several motor cycles and a group of side by sides. I highly recommend filling the gas tank before you get out there. We had heard rumors about the difficulty level of this trail and were surprised to find those rumors false. This was somewhat disappointing as we were expecting some challenges. We did not have to put our VERY capable lifted jeep wrangler into 4 wheel drive even once. It is basically like a forest trail for most of it and 30 miles of it is even paved. If you have any off roading experience this trail will be cake. It took us a total of 6 hours to complete from start to finish with a couple potty breaks and lunch worked in. This trail I would rate as EASY despite some reviews. ![]()
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