Overall Route Rating
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4.47 out of 5 Rider Rating 4.47
15 Reviews

St. Joe River Scenic Byway

Motorcycle Route Author

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By MCR Contributor (1039 McR Points) on May 22, 2011

Rider Reviews

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HaraldGS
2 McR Points
June 16, 2019
Rode this road from St Regis to St Maries today…
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aka Big Red
2 McR Points
September 24, 2017
My Wife and I rode this road from St. Regis to St…
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Written Directions

From St. Maries, ID, east along the St. Joe River for 75 miles. At the junction with Road 218, FS 50 heads north (left) and climbs 14 miles over the divide to the Idaho-Montana border. Be aware if coming from the East that the intersection in St Regis can be a bit confusing.Check out a good map. This road is deserted and much like the well know LoLo pass road which parallels it. Same type of road till you hit Avery,nice curvy route along the rivers edge! From Avery on it gets tighter and deserted and the road runs at higher elevations compared to the river, and has much higher drop-offs over the edges and a lot of tighter corners. Fun ride! Makes a great loop with the Lolo route.

Scenery

You will see beautiful Rivers, Mountains,Forest on this wonderful twisting lonely backroad nature tour!

Drive Enjoyment

100 miles of twisties and elevation.Follows the edge of the St Joe River. No traffic,usually deserted. If you can't handle some dust, then be aware there is a few miles of easy hardpack gravel surface on the MT side and you are in St Regis ,MT on I-90. No problem at all for our sportbikes. This is why you won't see many bikes on this route! Too bad more of the great roads didn't have a mile of gravel on each end! :) . Be warned, there is some hard pack gravel at the East end heading down the mtn towards St regis.

Tourism Opportunities

Lots at each end, not much in between. No need for a few hours anyway!
 

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bcsnowcat
December 26, 2011
7 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring
This is a great ride! Much nicer than Lolo! Deserted! Tighter turns, backwoods adventure at high speed!
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2 riders found this road review useful
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NDGlyde
August 21, 2020
16 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Touring
Fantastic ride. The scenery is great and the road conditions were perfect.
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2 riders found this road review useful
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MrSix
June 1, 2016
0 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring
We did this as a return route from Lolo - and this was a FAR superior ride. The dirt was well packed, just a little marble-ly in places but no issue. Empty road, amazing scenery, sweet twisties.
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1 riders found this road review useful