Boating: Head Out, Headwall

Tucker to Bell Crossing, Bitterroot River

Danielle Lattuga — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 16:54:00 -0600

Low and slow is sometimes exactly what I want the water to be. Four of us chose an afternoon to float from Tucker to Bell Crossing.…

Kootenai Falls Kayaking

John Lehrman — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 15:31:00 -0600

Deciding to step up my kayaking game a notch came through persistence, bravery, and the right mentorship.

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Self Support Selway

John Lehrman — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:58:00 -0600

August was a dry and smoky time, so we checked out to the Selway Wilderness for a five day adventure down the river.

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Madison Street Footbridge

Chad Harder — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:01:00 -0600

Its hard to believe but just a decade ago almost nobody would swim or float a tube down the Clark Fork River through Missoula. Boy has that changed.…

Lower Blackfoot River: Johnsrud to Wisherd Bridge

Danielle Lattuga — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:21:00 -0600

“The river looked at him with a thousand eyes—green, white, crystal, sky blue.”
—Herman Hesse, Siddartha

By the time summer solstice rolls around I am usually a little wound up by the gaggle of activities that exist in the snow-free world. I want to do them all at once but try as I might, some things inevitably flow through the cracks.…

Chapman Peak

John Lehrman — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:31:00 -0600

With the perfect weather holding, and the corn skiing in perfect shape, Ben and I pulled out of the near neighborhood and made tracks for just this side of the Canadian border. Heading up the North Fork of the Flathead River takes the traveler into a very wild landscape, thick old forests, vast burns, towering peaks and azure colored lakes.…

Middle Fork of the Salmon

John Lehrman — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:45:00 -0600

Last week found me heading for Marsh Creek and kayaking out of the Stanley Basin for a week-long, early season trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River with a crew of seven. While technically not in Western Montana, I would like to think that it is well within our sphere of passion and it's certainly one of the best river trips around.…

"pipe is in, bro"

Monica Gokey — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:38:00 -0600

"PIPE IS IN."

You don't have to live on Oahu's North Shore to surf monster waves. The Montana/Idaho edition of "surfing Pipe" involves a drysuit, stinky people, and one gorgeous, green, glassy wave on the Lochsa River.…

Sailing Flathead Lake

John Lehrman — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:20:00 -0600

After many years of hoping to sail from Dayton Harbor to Wild Horse Island, I took the opportunity presented with my Sailing Uncle's visit and headed to the lake yesterday.

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Late Summer day of splendor

John Lehrman — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:20:00 -0600

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. Stiff from wood crew, I started off going to the Simple Yoga studio in Hamilton and putting in an hour and a half getting warmed up with a core workout.…

Beartrap Canyon of the Madison River

Monica Gokey — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:21:00 -0600

Beartrap Canyon on the Madison River runs from the dam outflow below Ennis Lake, Mont. to the Warm Springs Creek fishing access, making for about ten miles of pristine Montana river through what might be Montana’s most populous [yet stunningly beautiful] poison ivy country.

More than anything, Beartrap is a run for fishing enthusiasts who don’t shy away from whitewater.…

August Rush for the Selway

Monica Gokey — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 04:00:00 -0600

Sixty-two lucky souls per summer will draw a Selway Permit, entitling them to enjoy 48 miles of uninterrupted Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness via the Class III-IV river that runs from Paradise Gauge, Montana to Selway Falls, Idaho.

The rest of us eager mortals have to duke it out in the 7-8 day gap between when permit season ends and the put-in road closes for a chance to experience the pristine Selway wilderness.…

Alberton Gorge

John Lehrman — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:18:00 -0600

I paddled the Gorge yesterday with my daughter Cree and Bill. We ran the lower section from Triple Bridges to the kayak take out.…

Late August outings

John Lehrman — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:37:00 -0600

With the heat as high as it has been, I have been mostly inspired to hit the river and cool down. I started easily with a Blackfoot float a couple weekends ago and I had never seen the river in such a party.…

Back in Montana and on the Rivers with the teenagers

John Lehrman — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:00:00 -0600

After a month abroad, returning to Montana is an amazing feeling. Reconnecting with where we live is usually top of the list for me and luckily my daughter has been getting into kayaking in between long hikes in the Bitterroots to get in shape for soccer season.…

North Forking

Brad Tyer — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:58:00 -0600

Friends and I make it a habit every July to brave the washboarded North Fork Road from Columbia Falls up to the Canadian border past Polebridge for three days of paddling on the North Fork of the Flathead River. We did it a little differently this time.…