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08/06/2020 05:31PM |
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08/06/2020 04:35PM |
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08/07/2020 10:00AM |
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08/07/2020 02:50PM |
There are no rapids on that float, or even really areas where the water speeds up. We made the trip in 8 days but could have easily done it in 6 because we had favorable winds. The current is stronger in the spring (3 mph?), but that is also the popular time to run the river. Camping is mostly in large riverside campsites that you will probably share with other groups if anyone else is floating. There are no portages- we packed all of our stuff in rubbermaid containers, they fit really well in the canoe. I guess it would have been a mess if we capsized..
There is a fantastic set of guidebooks that were available for this section. They would point out individual islands where the Lewis and Clark party shot a Grizzly bear, or sand bars where steamships had run aground after drunken mutinies. I think we got them at the interpretive center in Fort Benton.
Fishing in August was mostly impossible due to large amounts of algae floating downstream. Spring is probably different.
You need to pack water, but there are a few areas to fill up along the route. I don't think they recommend filtering because of high amounts of sediment and agricultural runoff. There are a lot of cows nearby.
Watch out for rattlesnakes.
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08/16/2020 09:33PM |
Found a old trappers cabin about 8 feet by 10 feet snuggled way into a hill side>just a few walls left. Also seen and left there in a ravine the petrified bones of a animals rib cage. Found a dinosaur bone and much petrified wood-left there. The river was real low that year. Like a 50 year low and there was these huge petrified snails everywhere along the river shores. I did take two of those homes. Not far from where I was about 10 years ago they found almost intact a entire skeleton of one of the bigger dinosaurs ever found. Often wonder the area I was I don't think it has been fully covered.
Yes I always dreamed of floating the whole thing and there is shuttle services available to transfer your car. What I don't know with 30 years gone by what about jet boats and other traffic change?
The Fort Peck reservoir has some awesome fishing.
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08/16/2020 06:05PM |
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08/16/2020 06:40PM |
It was also very hot for May . Over 100 degrees.
And yes bring a hiking stick as the prairie rattlers abound. They are shy but they are under bushes. Yep one almost got me.
There are pluses. You will find more pluses perhaps in the fall with the geese gone. One plus was the water for us was higher and fast. And the scenery nice and the history fantastic. We brought all our own water.
There are shade shelters at some campsites and not others. Some are also barbed wire fenced to keep the cattle from wrecking your camp.
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08/16/2020 07:35PM |
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08/16/2020 09:47PM |
WHendrix: "Wow, what an amazing endorsement. I've not paddled it but several friends have. I've heard some of the same reports plus another complaint from one group that the whole time they were on the river there was a strong up-river wind and so the advantage of the current was pretty much negated."It can be a windy area yes.
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08/16/2020 10:43PM |
Pinetree: "WHendrix: "Wow, what an amazing endorsement. I've not paddled it but several friends have. I've heard some of the same reports plus another complaint from one group that the whole time they were on the river there was a strong up-river wind and so the advantage of the current was pretty much negated."It can be a windy area yes.
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I would even say usually windy- I lived in the area for a few years. On our trip, the wind worked for us. We set up a sail between the two canoes and logged 11 mph on GPS at one point between current and wind. Control at that speed was not sustainable.
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08/17/2020 07:38AM |
ayudell: "Pinetree: "WHendrix: "Wow, what an amazing endorsement. I've not paddled it but several friends have. I've heard some of the same reports plus another complaint from one group that the whole time they were on the river there was a strong up-river wind and so the advantage of the current was pretty much negated."It can be a windy area yes.
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I would even say usually windy- I lived in the area for a few years. On our trip, the wind worked for us. We set up a sail between the two canoes and logged 11 mph on GPS at one point between current and wind. Control at that speed was not sustainable."
Wind we did not have. Some campsites were not accessible for us. The flooding had eroded the banks and some were 10 feet or so up vertical mud banks.
Each trip is going to be different. We stayed one night at a shelter near Hole in the Wall. There was an ongoing attempt to grow some shade trees. There were maybe 15 six foot tall trees and a bucket and a note on the shelter to please water them if we were so inclined. Of course my husband did.. about 30 trips back and forth to the river! I wonder how they are doing.
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08/09/2020 05:47PM |
rtallent: "My pal, Vern Fish, just did with two others. He usually posts a trip report on another canoe website, but it may be a while. If you need more immediate info, email me and I will put you in touch."
Hey, I know that Vern Fish... he’s a pretty diversified paddler. I did some woodland caribou with him.