(arriving at our rendezvous point near Superior, Montana)
The Clark Fork is the dominant river in western Montana, winding through the flat-lands, mountains, hills and forests, from its headwaters near the Continental Divide towards Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho panhandle. Named after William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) the river is a popular venue for recreation — rafting, floating in inner tubes, some canoeing and, of course, lots of fly fishing opportunities.
(guiding the rafts towards the Clark Fork River)
(beginning our journey — still, calm and absolutely beautiful!)
The river has good flow throughout the summer and moves at a pleasing pace. There are a few impressive rapids (Class III — with such ominous names as Boateater and Fang) that offer a thrilling bucking ride, but mostly the river moves along smoothly and you can lean back and enjoy the fresh clean air, beautiful mountains, canyons and wildlife. During our trip we saw several bald eagles, osprey and deer.
(TG contributor, Ottoman, enjoying the journey)
A number of vendors offer rafting trips on this river. We chose ROW Adventures, whom we’d known for a number of years and were very satisfied with the entire trip experience (I also have my eye on their trip through Hell’s Canyon on the Snake River). We met at a rural (rented) farm in Superior and were bused upriver for the beginning of our trip down the Alberton Gorge. The guides provided us with a fun and safe trip, served up a great lunch and entertained us with their stories and jokes.
(The Alberton Gorge)
The day was lovely, partially cloudy and partially sunny, warm and pleasant. It was a fun and memorable trip! While mostly it’s a easy float, at times we all had to paddle hard, especially through the rapids (here it’s important not to let the current take control of your boat’s movement – you need to propel through the hazards of standing waves and eddies). The guide does most of the work, steering and directing the raft. About 5-6 hours and 15 miles later we pulled our rafts on shore where the guides loaded them on our bus and we were returned to Superior. It had been a good day!
I hope you enjoy the attached slide show which does a better job of conveying what the trip was like than anything else I could write.
I’ve also uploaded a few videos from this trip onto our YouTube channel. You can watch these if you’d like to see more action:
I was enjoying the photos – until I saw the upturned boat !
I think I’ll pass until I get a waterproof watch !
Great pictures! quite different from the Upper Delaware (my only rafting experience). I noticed the old water chute in one picture…what was it used for? It looks a bit like the wooden aqueduct we saw a few years ago in Colorado that moved water along the edge of a canyon to a work site.
Thanks, PHeymont. It is a beautiful place and mostly a very relaxing float, with enough adrenaline admixed to make it fun!
The chute was used by old loggers to get their trees to the river. Easier than dragging them all the way.