Missouri River in Missouri Breaks, Montana – Plan B

[Stan]

We started planning this trip to Montana last winter. There were four of us including our friend Charlie who was to drive out with his trailer of boats.

Our objective was the Missouri River through Missouri Breaks National Monument in the heart of Montana. This trip was inspired by a previous reconnoiter of the area in conjunction with our tracing of the Lewis and Clark Trail. This 150 miles of the river is designated as a national wild and scenic river and is the longest undeveloped stretch of the Lewis and Clark Trail and most closely appears as it did over 200 years ago. It runs from Fort Benton to US-191 with only a few gravel roads, some of which are impassable in wet weather, in between. It is tightly regulated with respect to boats and human waste disposal (you pack out solids). Campers are also urged to bring their own water as the muddy Missouri deserves its name and may be contaminated with pesticides. Paddlers must register before beginning the trip.

15-20 mile days are the norm and there are campsites along the way. We kept in touch with a couple outfitters in the area who we anticipated would provide our shuttle service, some equipment, possible accommodations at either end of the trip and lots of advice, which they generously shared.

Our plan was a three day trip starting at “Coal Banks”, about 40 miles downstream and two days paddle from Fort Benton. After 47 miles of the most scenic (and popular) part of river featuring dramatic white cliffs, we planned a pickup at Judith Landing 47 miles downstream. Another 60 miles through the wildest and most remote part of the river would take another three days, perhaps longer if you pause for some hiking, and ends at US-191.

Among the hazards are thunderstorms, high winds and rattlesnakes. Well, at least there are no grizzlies in these parts but the joy of observing other wildlife is always a good possibility.

We planned this trip for late June and reserved three nights in Glacier National Park, 200 miles away, to follow our paddle camping. Knowing however, that each year the river levels and flow rate can vary considerably and that levels that are too high and fast could be impractical to safely manage, we formulated a Plan B. Be aware that river levels after dry periods late in the summer can make the trip quite a bit slower and perhaps more tedious in navigating the channels and sand bars. At these times the adventure of unannounced dam releases upstream can add some excitement to the journey, often in the form of debris being washed down, but that doesn’t really pose an impediment to a satisfying trip.

Sure enough, the snowfall the previous winter set new records and, to make matters worse, instead of snow melt beginning in the spring, spring blizzards just added to the base and delayed the melt. The floods of the past summer are well documented and boating accidents throughout the West had a spike.

It became clear early on that Plan B would be implemented. I’ll describe that next but first a couple links that may be helpful if you’re considering this cruise:

Bureau of Land Management: http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/lewistown_field_office/umrbnm.html
Adventure Bound: http://adventureboundcanoe.com/
Missouri River Canoe Co.: http://canoemontana.com/

 

[Stan]

Plan B

Our primary consolation if we didn’t paddle the Missouri River was the fact that we were bringing the boats to Glacier National Park afterwards and expected to find some relatively quiet waters and, with an early start and timing our downwind return to the launch to correspond with the high prevailing westerlies, some paddling on Two Medicine Lakes, St. Mary Lake and Waterton Lake. That was ruled out as Charlie’s car blew a head gasket in Browning and we were forced to leave the car and trailer behind as we all piled into my car for the Glacier stay.

Our plan B for the period we would have been at Missouri Breaks included the following:

1. Gates of the Mountains, Wolf Creek, MT, about 80 miles south of Great falls, our “base camp” for the time. This part of the Missouri River consists of two lakes dammed at the lower end by Holter Dam and the upper end by Hauser Dam. The lakes themselves are quiet water but the 15 miles through the scenic, and part wilderness, Gates has a flow only modestly abated by the dams and too strong to paddle back against. Had we been aware of the campground and boat ramp at Lower Holter Lake, we would have spotted one of the cars and done an end to end. Better yet, we could paddle camp at one of the many lovely sites in the Gates. Instead, we paddled Upper Holter Lake venturing into the main channel long enough to confirm our decision to avoid the main river.

The launch is a few miles off I-15 exit 209 and includes a marina where vehicles left overnight would be safe. This is also the location of a boat cruise which we enjoyed after spending a morning back at the Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls. I highly recommend this cruise; the narration was outstanding for its geologic, prehistoric, Lewis and Clark and modern history of the area. It is also an excellent opportunity to identify potential campsites along part of the river. Most stirring to me was the dramatic narration of the Mann Gulch Fire in 1949, as we viewed the canyon where it happened.

Back on our own cruise we paddled the scenic and varied perimeter of Upper Holter Lake and, except for a couple of power boats heading down the Gates, had the whole place to ourselves. Charlie made a humanitarian rescue of a duck decoy that, judging from the hole in it, had been wounded in action. I recommend the full river paddle, about 20 miles through the Gates and lakes, and would gladly go back again.

2. North of Great Falls we had two options and we chose the land based one, heading to the Lewis and Clark National Forest near Choteau and Bynum where there is an abundance of interesting opportunities for fossil and rock collecting. We explored the Rocky Mountain Front, as the eastern edge of the Rockies is known. There are good camping, including some cabins, and hiking opportunities in this Forest, not to mention the magnificent mountain scenery and the chilly Teton River where Erik enjoyed a skinny dip … it was way too cold for the rest of us.

Our water based option was the Marias River which is also part of the Lewis and Clark history. It was explored by Meriwether Lewis because a provision of the Louisiana Purchase that described the northern boundary as the point furthest penetrated by a tributary to the Missouri. Lewis was disappointed to learn that the river swung around to the west and did not go north into Canada. Had he explored the Milk River instead, our northern border would be some 10-15 miles north of that famed 49th parallel … gad! We’d have to put up with Vancouver not to mention that there would probably be no high tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton.

Meanwhile, the Marias is a river that can generally be paddled regardless of conditions on the Missouri. It is dammed at Lake Elwell over 50 miles and two days paddle down to the Missouri depending on where you put in. The flow is controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation and maintained within a range that makes it predictable and reliable. There are campsites at Lake Elwell and, with all the public lands along the river, plenty of primitive campsite choices as you float downstream.

Choosing between those two options was difficult. My recommendation is take enough time to do both.

3. Hungry Horse Reservoir is across the Continental Divide and closer to the west entrance to Glacier National Park. Charlie has camped there before and raves about the place. There are drive in campsites along the lake which is some 30 miles long and only a few miles at the widest which, together with its orientation, makes it usually less choppy under prevailing winds. Rather than adding a couple hundred miles round trip across the Divide, we opted instead for a night in East Glacier which, as it turns out, we were forced into anyway because of that head gasket thing.