Trans-America Trail — Dillon to Missoula via the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Divide

Sam Correro’s Trans-America Trail runs some of its most dramatically lonely miles across southwest Montana, linking Dillon north through the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest before cresting the Continental Divide fringe near the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. The route stitches together forest service two-track, old mining access roads, and gravel county byways, passing through the ghost town environs of Wisdom and crossing the Big Hole Valley floor before the terrain tilts upward again toward the Skalkaho Pass road — a standout moment of exposed switchbacks with sheer drop-offs on one side and a wall of spruce on the other. Wildlife density here is high; moose, black bear, and elk share the road with regularity. Georgetown Lake sits mid-route and is a reliable fuel and camp-water stop.

A stock high-clearance 4WD handles this segment in dry summer conditions, but the window is narrow — snow closes the higher forest roads by mid-October and the pass can hold drifts into late June. Run it July through September. GPS with downloaded TAT tracks from the official source is mandatory; forest service signage is inconsistent and logging traffic sometimes obliterates two-track with fresh ruts. Fuel up in Dillon and again in Anaconda or Philipsburg — gaps exceed 80 miles on the back sections. Cell service is spotty to nonexistent in the National Forest interior. What you take home from this one is big sky Montana in its rawest form, with almost no other overlanders in sight.