South Fork of the Sun River Float Trip

After 2 days of recoup and reorganization after the Smith. My good friend Kirby, his Aussie friend Nick, and I made last min plans to do an exploratory wilderness float on the South Fork of the Sun River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Although the fishing was not very good the water was still too high (~1500cfs), we had an excellent trip and were able to locate the unmarked class 4/5?? small waterfall drops into a log jam that is a mandatory portage.

Beautiful views near Benchmark TH

 [For those looking to do this float in the future: It is an excellent 2 day wilderness float, with a few fun (class 3- ish?) pool drops at the beginning from benchmark. Then from Pretty Prairie down it is calmer rocky waters until right before the wilderness boundary. Do not miss the big outside eddy where Furman Creek (hard to see from the river) comes in on river left. On this very sharp right handed turn toward the wilderness border line, you will want to eddy out left here and begin the short but strenuous 1/4 mile portage. Right after the log jam after the last big rapid drop, there is a good natural rocky boat ramp to re-launch your boat(s) and row into Gibson were the Sun Canyon Lodge (and maybe other outfitters as well) will pick you up by appointment and drag you, your boat and equipment to their lodge. Don't forget to grab a good burger from the lodge on your way out.]

Kirby trying to catch a cuthroat trout

One of the handful of 3- ish? rapids toward the start of the float.

Camp at the far end of Pretty Prarrie

Log Jam Rapids we portaged

Getting towed out by the Sun Canyon Lodge

 

Lochsa and Smith River Floats!

Aside from living my day to day climbing and mountain biking life in Helena (I know... it's a rough life I live), I have been busy getting out on the beautiful rivers of Montana and Idaho while they are still full of water and floatable!

Over Memorial Day weekend my good friend Brad Grammens put together a wild weekend of whitewater on the Lochsa river in Idaho! We floated the river at the peak flow (so far this season) 21,000 CFS and successfully navigated the wild class 3 and 4+ rapids with waves 20+ feet tall towering down river below us!!! Somehow we managed to get off the river and remain right side up the entire way! After this successful run, my boat gained the name "The Red Dragon". Here are three pictures of us going thru Lochsa Falls. People set out lawn chairs, tents, and bring BBQ's just to watch people go thru this rapid all weekend long. Needless to say, there is often lots of carnage at this rapid in particular!

After Memorial Day Weekend, we had a mere few days to prepare for a week long float on the spectacularly scenic Smith River in Montana. We had a fun crew of 10 people and I even convinced my old childhood friend to come fly to Montana to join us on the float. The flows were high when we set out for the week, and we didn't expect to catch any fish, to our surprise, the fishing wasn't half bad, and the clarity increased with the river dropping every day of our float. We played many lawn games drank lots of beer, and had a great time. On our last night, we even cooked up a steak feast!

Gibbers with a winner!