Indian Post Office is an intriguing name given to a rounded high point qualifying as a SOTA summit along the Nee Me Poo, a trail of the Nez Perce and the Lewis and Clark trail. I searched the few vertical rock outcrops looking for what I thought might be pictographs or petroglyphs. I found neither. I did see a large rock cairn linked to folklore. I gave it little significance except for taking a picture until I read an interpretive sign and this article from a University of Idaho post. https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/dm/dm1998/postof.html.
The summit has open area and small trees and snags suitable for attaching antennas. The nearby road has limited parking for a full-size vehicle.
This summit is just off the Lolo Motorway that roughly follows along the Nee Me Poo Trail of the Nez Perce and the Lewis and Clark Trail. The Lolo Motorway, USFS road #500 is a narrow mostly ridgetop road built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. It provides access to over a dozen SOTA summits along its route that are mostly a short hike. The road varies in surface and slope with easy travel to steep and rocky sections. A high-clearance vehicle is recommended. Much of the time there are few areas to pass another full-size vehicle. The road is also commonly traveled by ATVs and motorcycles. There are impressive views of the backcountry of the Clearwater National Forest
More information on the Lolo Motorway is on the Clearwater National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nezperceclearwater/recarea/?recid=80138 and at the Powell Ranger Station on Hwy 12, the access to road #500.
Elevation gain: 25’
Crosscountry distance: about 300’ roundtrip.
Water: There is no water source.
Bear Pepper Spray: Highly recommended in all North Idaho summits.
Maps: US Forest Service, Clearwater National Forest information can also be obtained at the Powell Ranger Station a short distance off Hwy #12.
Directions: The vehicle travel destination is USFS road #500. A slow mostly narrow US Forest road has often in the summer caravans of all terrain and side-by-side vehicles noisily tracking this route. From Lolo Pass on the Idaho/Montana border travel west approximately 12 miles to FS#569. The road junction is about ¼ mile east of the Powell Ranger Station/Lochsa Lodge access road. Travel essentially north on FS#569 for approximately 6 miles to Powell Junction. Here take FS#500 for another 12 miles to Cayuse Junction. At Cayuse Junction stay on #500 for approximately 9.5 miles to a wide spot in the roadway. From here the summit is just a short distance above the road cut-slope.
