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

St. Joe River Scenic Byway

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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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ckbranter
July 21, 2020
51 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Adventure Touring
Great scenic cut-toff route way to go from Idaho Falls to Moscow
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DylanC33
April 24, 2021
60 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Touring
I continue to come back to this ride. I've never ridden the gravel east end though.
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Christopher Kmet
May 21, 2021
327 McR Points
Motorcycle Type : Touring
Fabulous riding, scenery, and skill level.
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