SOTA Summit 7560 could easily be termed “Magruder Ridge High Point”. It is located on Magruder Ridge approximately 1.0 mile south of Magruder Mountain that it dominates by a mere 138’. Magruder Mountain and Ridge are named for the massacre of Lloyd Magruder and his party of four others in 1863 near this area. See sign photo. The summit is mostly forested but has views of other highpoints in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness and Salmon Mountain Lookout in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.
Reaching the summit requires an off-trail bushwack of approximately ½ mile while attempting to avoid windfall beetle and fire killed lodgepole pine. The biggest challenge is determining when to exit maintained trail #13 to avoid a ‘sea of windfall’. See the directions below.
There are ample trees and snags on the summit for hanging wire antennas or smaller ones for attaching a pole.
Trail Miles: Roundtrip 2 miles On-trail, 1 mile Off-trail
Elevation Gain: 670’ ascend, 320’ descend’.
Water: None along the trail.
Bear Spray: Recommend for all Idaho summit hikes.
Camping: The nearest campgrounds are Magruder Crossing along the Selway River and Observation Point beyond the trailhead on the main Magruder Corridor Road. Both are really dispersed sites with only outhouse facilities.
Maps: US Forest Service, Bitterroot National Forest.
Directions: South of Darby, MT approximately 4 miles turn right onto the West Fork Bitterroot River Road. Travel on this road approximately 14 miles to the Nez Perce Fork Road, FS #468 (Magruder Corridor). Turn Right onto FS #468 and travel approximately 47 miles to the trailhead. A shortcut trail is unsigned and is 1 mile beyond the signed FS#7 trailhead and the Magruder Massacre sign. Location is 45.68181, -114.81042.
The shortcut trail intersects trail #7 in approximately 1/3 mile. Trail #7 intersects trail #13 after ¼
Mile. The #7 to #13 appear as the main trail as the junction of #13 north is barely discernable. Determining when to exit trail #13 for approximately ½ mile can be a little daunting but keep on the trail #13 until you pass some tall dense alder and willows brush covering the trail and enter open forest of larger Douglas-fir. Here the uphill route will look a lot ‘clearer’ of windfall trees. Attempt to stay in the more open forest as you ascend to near the summit which is quite open.
