An 18-year-old from Kalispell is dead after driving his vehicle off the side of a forest road west of the Hungry Horse Dam early Tuesday morning.
At around 6:30 a.m., a Honda HRV traveling at a high rate of speed left Forest Road 895, went through a pull-off parking area and launched over a rocky hillside, according to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Hensley. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt, and was ejected and killed when the small SUV rolled multiple times and struck a tree. Rescuers recovered the man’s body Tuesday. The vehicle was retrieved on Wednesday after coming to rest roughly 1,000 feet below the road.
The crash occurred on a stretch of road between Lion Lake and the dam, just west of the Hungry Horse Reservoir, within the boundaries a popular recreation area that is part of the Flathead National Forest.
MHP is continuing to investigate the incident but Hensley said there was no evidence that the man attempted to apply the brakes before leaving the road.