Search Results for “south fork”

2022 Bob Open un/official report

The 2022 Open started at Blackleaf Canyon on the Rocky Mountain Front, and ran either to the Rattlesnake trailhead outside Missoula, or looped back to finish at the start, with a mandatory checkpoint at the confluence of Youngs and Danaher Creeks. 9 folks took the start, with several planning for alternate routes. 2022 had started […]

Montana’s early rifle

We’re in the second half of September, which means that in three Montana hunting districts, rifle season has started for deer and elk. This is, I believe, the earliest season anywhere in North America for these animals, aside from special tags. The mystique, or more accurately malarkey, surrounding these three districts is considerable, and the […]

little Big Blackfoot bikeraft loops

As opposed to the Little Blackfoot, whose headwaters are too small and brushy for good floating, the Big Blackfoot River rarely runs parallel to a road, something that makes for convenient and high quality floating. The middle section of the Big Blackfoot and its tributaries, which is to say the bit in the Helmville/Ovando valley, […]

Accident report: near-drowning in Meadow Creek Gorge

Paddler A and B were on the fourth day of a packrafting trip on the South Fork of the Flathead at low water (a hair above 500 cfs at Twin Creeks). They passed through the intro rapid right below the normal Meadow Creek takeout and arrived at the first serious rapid 1/2 mile later around […]

Tenderfoot Creek packrafting

Tenderfoot Creek is the largest west-running drainage in the Little Belt mountains. Like the mountains themselves, it is a unique and somewhat obscure place. It has a public lands story which is worth reading about. As detailed last week, I’ve been mulling this post for a while. I discovered (for myself) floating the creek in […]

2021 Bob Open report

Moore photo. This, the 10th Bob Marshall Wilderness Open, took place under the influence of unusual weather. This can be said most years, which is the point of going in late May rather than July, but was in 2021 more true than normal. 10 days out from the start a large storm moved through, with […]

My 2021 Bob Open

The thick green water of the North Fork took half a mile to give in and intermingle with the flat milky water of the main Blackfoot. Black spruce limbs, broken ragged and hidden two dimensionally in the river floated past, the breeze pushing gently upstream. I looked backwards and saw an intact, dead tree floating […]

My favorite

In the past few years May has firmly become my favorite month of the year. In May Montana straddles winter and summer perfectly, presenting all the essential virtues of both with few of the downsides of either. Days are long, longer than easily used awake. Rivers and creeks and ridgetops and bowls are all full […]

A Walk in the Woods

There was some trepidation associated with the start. We had three long term ideas of mine intersecting; crossing the Bob on the tail end of winter, combining the South and Middle Forks in one trip, and doing (another) big skiraft. We also had very large and heavy packs, our inability to get everything inside, and […]

The Youngs Creek log

Longtime readers and those who have read the guidebook know that I’m not big on packraft beta. The judgment that comes running with first descent eyes is a prerequisite in the wilderness, and a major part of my decision to put the guide out at all was to drive education as packrafting gets (a bit?) […]