T-30 Days Until Montana!
This summer’s plans have been in the making since I bought my first packraft in 2019. We are headed to Montana, to the Bob Marshall Wilderness specifically, for 9 days of backpacking, packrafting, and fly-fishing fun! Our route connects multiple trails, continues along the CDT, traverses several passes, and puts us in prime trout country.
The Route
Hiking Miles: 50ish
Floating Miles: 25ish
Rivers: South Fork Flathead River, White River, West Fork Medicine (Sun) River, South Fork Medicine (Sun) River
Entering at the Benchmark trailhead, we will paddle 5 miles north along the South Fork of the Sun River, taking out, and eventually turning west along the CDT another 10ish miles. From there, we will traverse White River Pass, and paddle the White River down to the Flathead River. We will spend a few days fly-fishing and floating our way down the Flathead River to Helen Creek, where we will traverse the pass once again back down to Juliet Creek, and eventually over Spotted Bear Pass, down the Chinese Wall, paddle the West Fork Sun River, and hike 5 miles back to the truck. WHEW!
Hiking along this section of the trail and the CDT is pretty moderate. We anticipate our most exciting day to be the traverse over to the White River, and the pass back over Helen Creek. Because of the size of our packs, we are planning on very easy, low mile hiking days with a lot of fly-fishing!
The Rivers
Sun/Medicine River
The ancestral name of this river is the Medicine River, named by the Blackfoot Tribe for mineral deposits found along the banks often used for medicinal purposes (Fischer, 1986). The Sun River originates at the east end of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. Once a wild river, it is now damed by the Gibson Reservoir and Sun River Dam. We will be floating the West and South Forks, which are mostly scenic stretches before the dams outside of standard wilderness paddling hazards. It has several sections of rowdy rapids, located between the Sun Dam and Gibson Reservoir, along with another section near Sun River Canyon. Huge sandstone formations line the river for miles, and a solid bedrock bottom makes for some excellent honey holes. Ideal Flows: >400cfs
White River
The White River is an isolated river within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. It is primarily a limestone river (hence the name “White”), and rumor has it the water runs white at high flows (USFS). The river is also home to the elusive and endangered bull trout! Most people consider the White River to be Class III+.
Flathead River- South Fork
The Flathead river is named after the Flathead (Salish) tribe. It has 3 main forks, and we will be paddling the South Fork from below Big Prairie until about Helen Creek. This portion of river is a Class II+ wilderness run, with a little scouting. The widest and “tamest” of the three rivers on this trip! Ideal Flows: 2000-5000cfs
Ancestral Native Lands
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex lies upon ancestral Blackfoot lands.
References
Fischer, H. (1986). The Floater's Guide to Montana (Vol. 2). Falcon Press Pub. Co.
