Missoula County is located in the State of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,922, making it Montana's third-most populous county. Its county seat and largest city is Missoula. The county was founded in 1860.
Lolo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Missoula Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,399 at the 2020 census, an increase from its population of 3,892 in 2010. It is home to Travelers' Rest State Park, a site where Lewis and Clark camped in 1805 and again in 1806.
Lolo Pass, elevation 5,233 feet (1,595 m), is a mountain pass in the western United States, in the Bitterroot Range of the northern Rocky Mountains. It is on the border between the states of Montana and Idaho, approximately forty miles (65 km) west-southwest of Missoula, Montana.
Clearwater National Forest with headquarters on the Nez Perce Reservation at Kamiah is located in North Central Idaho in the northwestern United States. The forest is bounded on the east by the state of Montana, on the north by the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, and on the south and west by the Nez Perce National Forest and Palouse Prairie.
Bitterroot National Forest comprises 1.587 million acres (6,423 km2) in west-central Montana and eastern Idaho of the United States. It is located primarily in Ravalli County, Montana, but also has acreage in Idaho County, Idaho (29.24%), and Missoula County, Montana (0.49%).
Lolo National Forest is a national forest located in western Montana, United States with the western boundary being the state of Idaho. The forest spans 2 million acres (8,000 km2) and includes four wilderness areas; the Scapegoat and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness are partially within the forest while the Welcome Creek and Rattlesnake Wildernesses are solely in Lolo National Forest. The forest was created in 1906 from 4 different previous forests which were combined for administrative purposes. Lolo National Forest is west of the Continental divide and has a biodiversity influenced by both continental and maritime weather creating a transitional forest that has a high number of different plant and tree species.
Mertensia virginica is a spring ephemeral plant in the Boraginaceae (borage) family with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers, native to eastern North America.
Rattlesnake National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area located 4 miles north of Missoula, Montana in the Rattlesnake Creek drainage area. It is administered by the Lolo National Forest and is adjacent to the Rattlesnake Wilderness. Both the recreation area and the wilderness area were established by the U.S. Congress on October 19, 1980.
Traveler's Rest was a stopping point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, located about one mile south of Lolo, Montana. The expedition stopped from September 9 to September 11, 1805, before crossing the Bitterroot Mountains, and again on the return trip from June 30 to July 3, 1806. Traveler's Rest is at the eastern end of the Lolo Trail. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The boundaries were subsequently revised, and mostly lie within the 51-acre (21 ha) Traveler's Rest State Park, which is operated by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Significant archeological findings made in 2002, including latrine sites with traces of mercury and fire hearths, make this the only site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail that has yielded physical proof of the explorers' presence. Records made by Lewis and Clark often spell "Traveler's" as "Traveller's". This spot is largely unchanged from the days of Lewis and Clark. From this location, Lewis and Clark split up to explore Montana during their return trip, not reuniting until they reached Sanish, North Dakota.
U.S. Highway 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway in the state of Montana. It extends approximately 597.576 miles (961.705 km) from the Idaho state line east to the North Dakota state line, the greatest distance that US 12 traverses through any state.
Mertensia ciliata is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names tall fringed bluebells, mountain bluebells, and streamside bluebells.
Mertensia longiflora is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names small bluebells and long bluebells.
Mertensia oblongifolia is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names oblongleaf bluebells and sagebrush bluebells.
Mertensia paniculata, also known as the tall lungwort, tall bluebells, or northern bluebells, is an herb or dwarf shrub with drooping, bright-blue, bell-shaped flowers. It is native to northwestern North America and the Great Lakes.
Mertensia maritima is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, and is known by the common names oyster leaf in North America, oyster plant in the British Isles, and sea bluebells.
The Rice Ridge Fire was a wildfire that burned northeast of Seeley Lake in the Lolo National Forest in Montana in the United States. The fire, which was started by a lightning strike on July 24, 2017, became a megafire on September 3, growing from 40,000 acres (162 km2) to over 100,000 acres (405 km2), at which time it became the nation’s top wildfire priority as of early September 2017. Located north and east of Seeley Lake, Montana, over 700 firefighting personnel were assigned to the blaze, primarily active in a mountainous lodgepole and mixed conifer forest. The fire had burned 155,900 acres (631 km2) and at one point threatened over 1,000 homes in Powell County and Missoula County including the town of Seeley Lake, Montana and areas north of Highway 200, east of Highway 83. Evacuation orders included parts of Powell County north of Montana Highway 200, areas east of Montana Highway 83, and evacuation warnings for other sections of the forest within Missoula County.
The Lolo Peak Fire was a wildfire in Lolo National Forest and Bitterroot National Forest, Montana in the United States, that began by lightning strikes on the western flank of Lolo Peak, 10 miles southwest of Lolo, Montana on July 15, 2017. The fire burned a total of 53,902 acres (218 km2). One firefighter, Brent Witham, was killed working the fire, and another firefighter was injured. Two homes were destroyed, over 3,000 people were evacuated and 1,150 residences were threatened. The fire threatened homes along Highway 12 and Highway 93, impacting recreational activities in the area and the communities of Lolo and Florence.
The 2017 Montana wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017.
