Special Agent Cooper Takes Montana

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Camping with foodies

So while back country camping from the rafts, we ate cold food. Cold salads, deli meats, cheese...

And then we sufficiently made up for it while back in the Big Creek Campground by making enormous bison burgers, spinach salads, corn on the cob, and smores done correctly...we might have to tell my brother and sister in law what line to take through a rapid, but they school us on food every time. Food is their hobby and they travel all over the world for it.

Oh, and we had some good local beer.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160705_193429116-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160705_193429116-1600x900.jpg
    221.6 KB · Views: 14
  • IMG_20160705_193147898-1200x2133.jpg
    IMG_20160705_193147898-1200x2133.jpg
    495.9 KB · Views: 15
  • IMG_20160705_202313092-1200x2133.jpg
    IMG_20160705_202313092-1200x2133.jpg
    445.4 KB · Views: 15
Last edited:

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Ford to Coal Creek

We did this float over the 4th of July. The weather was perfect, a little chilly, but we loved the river. It was braided, composed of glacial runoff, icy cold, clear, and sparkled with turquoise light over the white and pink boulders. We found a nice, wide gravel bar to camp on, had a fire, and Tim and I fished in the evening while Rob and Eileen made and enjoyed cocktails.

There was quite a bit of river traffic on this stretch and all of us found it funny that we were ever concerned about bears, tho I did notice that we were not the only raft to be packing.

In this area, behind every modded Toyota truck is a raft trailer and we felt right at home to be surrounded by all the river folk. In that regard the area reminds me of Buena Vista, CO. You better get used to hearing "right on" all the time and slowing your roll (something I'm not great at).

We had to leave Eileen's Prius at Coal Creek then drive everybody and all the gear to Ford where we launched. Then, once we came off the river, she and I went up to grab my Hundy.

The shuttle was interesting in the Prius. The North Fork Road is a dusty, washboarded road and it was not fun in her car.

I will say, tho, that it was smooth and easy in the LC, I'm sure because of the Automatic Height Control, which I have a love/hate relationship with. When I get home I want to replace it with an OME suspension, but drives like the one I just did in it make me second guess that...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160706_093631373_TOP-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160706_093631373_TOP-1600x900.jpg
    351.5 KB · Views: 23
  • IMG_20160704_141447224-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160704_141447224-1600x900.jpg
    341 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_20160705_190315562_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160705_190315562_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    385.2 KB · Views: 13

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
More pics...

...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160704_174011307_crop_940x752.jpg
    IMG_20160704_174011307_crop_940x752.jpg
    141.9 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_20160705_214625963-1200x2133.jpg
    IMG_20160705_214625963-1200x2133.jpg
    417.4 KB · Views: 14
  • IMG_20160704_130835235-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160704_130835235-1600x900.jpg
    400.1 KB · Views: 10

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Glacier

We drove half way through Glacier before we had a very sick German Shepherd on our hands and had to turn back. I got some decent pictures, and I wasn't too upset to turn back because the weather and visibility were so poor.

I was surprised by how claustrophobic I felt in the visitor's center. The more time I spend in the middle of nowhere the more difficult it is to come back.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160706_130646140_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160706_130646140_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    329.3 KB · Views: 13
  • IMG_20160706_133205793-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160706_133205793-1600x900.jpg
    214.8 KB · Views: 11
  • IMG_20160706_135652076(1)-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160706_135652076(1)-1600x900.jpg
    328.8 KB · Views: 13

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Glacier, cont.

...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160706_130530980_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160706_130530980_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    347.1 KB · Views: 14
  • IMG_20160706_123029272_HDR-1200x2133.jpg
    IMG_20160706_123029272_HDR-1200x2133.jpg
    418.4 KB · Views: 14
  • IMG_20160706_125658833_HDR-1200x2133.jpg
    IMG_20160706_125658833_HDR-1200x2133.jpg
    415.6 KB · Views: 13

RAFoutdoors

Retired Explorer
How's Coop??? I hope he is feeling better. This looks like it has been an epic trip.
Wishing you Safe Travels!
 

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Driving to Coal Banks Landing, north of Ft. Benton

We will launch on the Missouri tomorrow from Coal Banks and will float to Judith Landing. We are in the process of driving to Ft. Benton to drop off a set of keys for a very expensive vehicle shuttle. I always seem to get rock chips in my windshield from having my vehicles shuttled; hopefully that doesn't happen this week...

Lots of wheat fields. Tim is driving for the first time so I can post to ExPo.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160707_164437541_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160707_164437541_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    150.6 KB · Views: 9
  • IMG_20160707_144539230-1200x2133.jpg
    IMG_20160707_144539230-1200x2133.jpg
    384.2 KB · Views: 12
Last edited:

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Love the updates...thanks for sharing!

Nice to have my friend following along...

We just came off the river and said goodbye to my brother and his wife.

The trip was a lot of fun and really relaxing. I'll upload pics. later tonight. Had an amazing tailwind all yesterday and floated 20 miles.

Tim, however, realized 5 miles into today's float to the take out that he left 2 fly rods at the last camp. One was a rod he built himself. So he's still not over it.

I promised him he could get whatever new rod he wanted, and all the fixins, in Craig, fly fishing capital of the world, tomorrow. He doesn't seem much comforted by that.

Pics. in a bit. It was a lovely river with lots of wildlife.
 

CatskillsRunner

Adventurer
Virgelle Ferry Road

This was the road down to the launch. I could actually get service here, so I ran up to talk to some friends before I would be out of pocket for the next 3 days.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160707_180352256_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160707_180352256_HDR-1600x900.jpg
    271.1 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_20160707_191803662_TOP-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160707_191803662_TOP-1600x900.jpg
    248.9 KB · Views: 12
  • IMG_20160707_181111843-1600x900.jpg
    IMG_20160707_181111843-1600x900.jpg
    176.4 KB · Views: 9

Forum statistics

Threads
188,392
Messages
2,906,578
Members
230,176
Latest member
Arcadia1415
Top