NDR (but there is one pic of ducks and several of a boat).
I wanted share our summer fishing trip rafting a river in the Bob Marshall Wilderness to camp and fish for Westslope Cutthroats. The river is quite a production to get to, but the wilderness experience is what we were looking for in this part of the trip.
Our plan was to hire a packer to pack our raft in on mules from the trailhead and we would hike about 30 miles to the river, our truck would get shuttled to the takeout, and after about 30 miles of rafting we would meet another packer to get our raft packed out and hike to another trailhead where our truck would be waiting. What could go wrong, right?
Any adventure begins with packing and this was our final packing and organizing of gear, what we would take and what the mules would carry.
Just us and our packs. Leaving the truck to be shuttled.
First camp on the way in.
Views were great along the way.
Flowers were spectacular.
Grouse for the dog to chase.
This guy that left this was a couple hours ahead of us.
Spirits were high and everyone was peppy the second evening.
Hiked through a lot of burns.
Did I say a lot of burns?
At the end of day 3 the packer and string passed us within sight of where he would drop our stuff.
Inflating the raft the next morning and getting loaded to float.
First fish!
First camp on the river.
First serious fishing.
Fish food.
People food.
Night of thunderstorms, little did we know at the time.
Rafting solo through a toothy shallow section.
The depth and clarity of the pool I caught it in was more spectacular than the fish.
Taking the raft for a walk.
More.
Way too many views like this. We knew the river was low, but the amount of dragging was plain tiresome.
Shallow again.
Wildlife.
The rocks are real purty and old.
Second river camp.
Ducks.
We wanted to get on the hopper bite that the river is known for. They weren?t going crazy for hoppers, but hungry enough to have some fun.
Smoke. Hmmmm, what is up there?
Source of the smoke as we approached downriver. The fire started during the thunderstorms a few days earlier and was smoldering.
Winds kicked up and a few acres turned into several hundred as we got around it and put it behind us.
This was our view from where we planned to camp the next couple days.
When you see this, you start to wonder.
And then when you see this 2 miles from where are setting up camp things get really interesting.
We had been in contact with the Forest Service all day on the sat phone and they asked us to evacuate as the fire blew up. It was late afternoon and we had done a lot of miles already that day and we had about 5 to go through a canyon with few spots to stop until the takeout.
So, we got to the takeout and set up camp, now several miles from the fire and having gone through the most technical and scenic part in a rush.
Look who is tired and wants in the tent before it is even fully up.
Next morning, it would have been pretty awful had we stayed where we planned to camp near the fire.
We were able to get ahold of our packer and the folks doing the truck shuttle and amazingly get our gear out that day and get the truck shuttled the 160 miles to be waiting for us when we hiked out.
The lower river canyon that next day after the wind shifted and blew the smoke out.
Bittersweet hike out.
Stock with our raft, just passing us at the end of the trail.
View from the packer camp. Folks were sitting around watching the smoke that meant an early end to the season for them (and us).
I wanted share our summer fishing trip rafting a river in the Bob Marshall Wilderness to camp and fish for Westslope Cutthroats. The river is quite a production to get to, but the wilderness experience is what we were looking for in this part of the trip.
Our plan was to hire a packer to pack our raft in on mules from the trailhead and we would hike about 30 miles to the river, our truck would get shuttled to the takeout, and after about 30 miles of rafting we would meet another packer to get our raft packed out and hike to another trailhead where our truck would be waiting. What could go wrong, right?
Any adventure begins with packing and this was our final packing and organizing of gear, what we would take and what the mules would carry.
Just us and our packs. Leaving the truck to be shuttled.
First camp on the way in.
Views were great along the way.
Flowers were spectacular.
Grouse for the dog to chase.
This guy that left this was a couple hours ahead of us.
Spirits were high and everyone was peppy the second evening.
Hiked through a lot of burns.
Did I say a lot of burns?
At the end of day 3 the packer and string passed us within sight of where he would drop our stuff.
Inflating the raft the next morning and getting loaded to float.
First fish!
First camp on the river.
First serious fishing.
Fish food.
People food.
Night of thunderstorms, little did we know at the time.
Rafting solo through a toothy shallow section.
The depth and clarity of the pool I caught it in was more spectacular than the fish.
Taking the raft for a walk.
More.
Way too many views like this. We knew the river was low, but the amount of dragging was plain tiresome.
Shallow again.
Wildlife.
The rocks are real purty and old.
Second river camp.
Ducks.
We wanted to get on the hopper bite that the river is known for. They weren?t going crazy for hoppers, but hungry enough to have some fun.
Smoke. Hmmmm, what is up there?
Source of the smoke as we approached downriver. The fire started during the thunderstorms a few days earlier and was smoldering.
Winds kicked up and a few acres turned into several hundred as we got around it and put it behind us.
This was our view from where we planned to camp the next couple days.
When you see this, you start to wonder.
And then when you see this 2 miles from where are setting up camp things get really interesting.
We had been in contact with the Forest Service all day on the sat phone and they asked us to evacuate as the fire blew up. It was late afternoon and we had done a lot of miles already that day and we had about 5 to go through a canyon with few spots to stop until the takeout.
So, we got to the takeout and set up camp, now several miles from the fire and having gone through the most technical and scenic part in a rush.
Look who is tired and wants in the tent before it is even fully up.
Next morning, it would have been pretty awful had we stayed where we planned to camp near the fire.
We were able to get ahold of our packer and the folks doing the truck shuttle and amazingly get our gear out that day and get the truck shuttled the 160 miles to be waiting for us when we hiked out.
The lower river canyon that next day after the wind shifted and blew the smoke out.
Bittersweet hike out.
Stock with our raft, just passing us at the end of the trail.
View from the packer camp. Folks were sitting around watching the smoke that meant an early end to the season for them (and us).
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