Zone 9 covers the middle and upper Lochsa River drainage and the timbered slopes climbing toward Lolo Pass on the Bitterroot Divide. Elevations run from about 2,000 feet on the Lochsa to over 7,000 feet on the divide. Inland-maritime forest dominates—huge western red cedar in the canyon, grand fir and Doug fir on mid-slopes, then subalpine fir, mountain hemlock, and whitebark pine near the ridge. Old burns from the past two decades cover significant chunks of country with regenerating brush, lodgepole, and the kind of huckleberry fields where bears live in September. Almost all public—Clearwater NF and a strip of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness on the south side. US 12 follows the Lochsa, the only paved road in the zone, and from it forest roads (where they exist) climb a few drainages. Most of the country is foot or stock access only. Powell Junction has fuel and a small lodge; Lolo, MT or Kamiah are your supply runs. No cell service anywhere except briefly at Lolo Pass itself. October weather here is the real boss—pineapple express systems can dump days of rain, and snow at elevation locks the high country fast. Wolves have hammered elk numbers compared to the 80s, but the bulls that live here are wilderness-grade, and you'll hunt them on their terms.