Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 6:03 PM
To: Cc:
Subject: A Highly Recommended Vacation
I'm sending this to friends that I think would enjoy this trip
and copying it to family so they can read what we did.
We had a wonderful time in Montana, but the highlight was a 4
day canoeing/hiking/camping trip down the "upper" Missouri
river. It was incredible. We left from Coal Banks and paddled to
Judith's Landing, through the white cliffs of the Missouri and
through the "breaks". Our only previous experience with a canoe
was around Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland.
Before I describe the trip, a few facts. The river flows at
approximately 3.5 miles an hour. You could get a full bathtub
swirling at a faster rate with little effort. However, if you
want to float a bit, it will keep you going. It is not deep. A
local saying is that if you feel like you are drowning in the
Missouri, stand up. When I stood up in the water, it came just
less than mid-thigh.
If you go out with outfitters, they do everything. Load and
unload the canoe, set up and break down all of the tents and
cots, all cooking and dishes. Our guides took our kids in their
canoes and the kids paddled when they wanted, or not. When the
kids didn't want to hike, they could stay at camp with one of
the guides. You were welcome to help and a couple of the people
on our trip did. I wasn't one of them. My contribution was to
convince everyone to double the tip they were thinking of giving
the guides. My verbal skills always were better than my physical
skills.
So, we headed out the first day, a bit anxious. There were two
other families and three guides. As the sissies from LA (we told
them we had no experience rather than admit our Tom Sawyer
experience), I was with a guide, Keith and Kelsey were with a
guide and Kyle was with the last guide. The paddling was fine.
After the first day, the kids stayed with guides (rather than
ride with Keith and I) and Keith and I had our own boat. That
had it's interesting moments, but we made it the entire 48 miles
and loved it. If I can paddle 48 miles (I am consistent and
steady, Keith's style is stronger but with many breaks, imagine
the discussion that generated between us), anyone can paddle
this trip.
The first day we stopped at lunch and walked up to tipi rings.
At our overnight spot we hiked and scrambled over boulders to
climb up a slot canyon. The second day we paddled to our next
campsite and then hiked to "hole in the wall" and then walked up
the river with life vests, jumped in the river and floated down
to our campsite on our backs. The third day was a longer
paddling day. We stopped for lunch and relaxed, then headed to a
beautiful campsite and floated and splashed in the river. We
visited a "prairie dog town", the guides couldn't believe that
we have a prairie dog exhibit at the LA Zoo, they shoot them in
MT as vermin. The fourth day we paddled to our pull out and had
a wonderful lunch.
We saw a lot of wildlife: fox and prong horn on the way to the
put in, on the river pelicans, blue herons, eagles, hawks, deer,
owl, prairie dogs, beautiful birds, snakes (no rattlers though).
The scenery is stunning. Cliffs of limestone, hoo doos, huge
rock formations. It is one of two largely untouched portions of
the Lewis and Clark Trail. There is a lot of history that your
guides will tell you (although many of us had already studied
the area and the Lewis and Clark expedition so we were able to
have several interesting conversations).
The food is incredible. I mean it. We had steaks, pork chops,
scallop potatoes, chicken salad (that I am going to beg them for
a recipe for), brownies, carrot cake, pancakes, tacos, french
toast, shrimp cocktail, brie and crackers, guacamole. We all
loved the food.
The tents were terrific and the cots were so good that I'm going
to go buy some for our own camping. Bathroom facilities were
basic. No running water. Three campsites had vault toilets and
one was primitive camping. Will give further details on request,
but if I can do it, anyone can.
The guides were wonderful. Two were in college in Missoula and
one was just entering his senior year of high school. That may
sound young to you, but these people were so capable and
knowledgeable. I wouldn't turn to them for life decisions, but I
would go down any river with any of them and know that I would
be safe. I'd go on the trip again just for my kids to see the
example of the guides. We talked to Kyle about being like Eric
when he was 17, he said no way, another guide heard him and told
him that the only obstacles he had in life were the ones he set
for himself.
We made the reservations last March. It was early enough that
the outfitters planned the trip we wanted around our schedule.
They then went through their list of past clients, found a
family that had canceled the previous year, called them, said
they were planning a family trip for August and asked if they
wanted to come, and they did. They then advertised the trip as a
family trip with young kids and another family joined in. It was
wonderful. The kids ran as a group and had a blast.
Within half of a day on the river we felt like we had been away
for a week. The serenity is wonderful. The outfitters we went
with are Missouri River Outfitters at mroutfitters.com. It is
run by the same people who run Adventure Bound and that web site
is adventureboundcanoe.com. Both web sites are good and give a
little bit different information. I would be happy to talk you
about the trip or about the other places we went (hiking the
Lolo Trail in Idaho with outfitters and then into Glacier
National Park for a week). Hope you are enjoying the end of your
summer.
Kim
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