The Missouri Breaks

We rose to fairly clear skies and a warming day for our last paddle on the Missouri River. A bit of rain over night and morning dew meant that we all packed our tents and gear when it was wet – not ideal, but no real alternative. We’ve been doing these types of trips for long enough that the morning routines of breakfast and packing our individual gear and the collective camp gear goes fairly smoothly. It’s a bit of dance in ways, and no one needs any direction and no one is in charge until it come to actually packing each canoe – here, the weight and balance are important.

Loading the gear over the Bentonite riverbank was no easier than the off-load that took place the previous afternoon. The only salvation here was that to actually board the canoe you had to wade into the river and that left the huge clumps of mud attached to our shoes and boots behind in the river.

We began to paddle just after 8:30am and the weather wasn’t too bad – no rain, that is. Not yet, at least.

Within an hour, it was clear that rainy skies were chasing us down river and it would only be a matter of time before we were in it. Everyone pulled rain gear from the ready day-packs and as we paddled we waited for the drops to start.

The country as we descended the Missouri River continued to become more gentle and rolling. Certainly, there were random outcrops of sandstone and other more dramatic volcanic intrusions, but none of it was quite like the stretch from Coal Banks to Judith Landing.

We only had 45-ish kilometres to paddle and ,despite the drizzle to closed in on us, no one was in any particular rush to have it over. The water was still flowing with some spleen (6-8km/hr in place), the scenery wasn’t unpleasant, and we’d been paddling enough this trip to be in a little better physical shape.

The rain continued for the rest of our 3.5 hour paddle and, again, we were all soaked to the bone. We did make a riverbank stop to stretch our legs and to get a snack. As we pulled ashore, I looked upriver and saw a bright multi-coloured kayak coming toward us. At its helm was a long bearded young man who smiled to as he tucked his kayak in beside us. We struck up a brief conversation with the second ‘River Nomad’ we’d come across on this trip. Pleasant fellow who was just looking for the peace he’d find on the water, a bit of good conversation with other paddlers from time to time, and a chance to see the world in a unique way.

Soon enough he was off down river as we finished up our shore break. Suzanne found a fancy looking bright yellow fishing lure and put it aside for me for some later sketching.

Just before noon we caught the current a few hundred metres downstream of the Fred Robinson Bridge at the Kipp Recreational Site. Yes, as soon as we pulled ashore it stopped raining!

There was Val with his big white van ready and waiting. Merle and Chuck walked off to retrieve the trucks and boat trailers. In the meantime. We all worked of off-load our gear for the last time on this river. As we did so, the River Nomad paddled shore for a break and to see how it was all working with such big canoes. While he wasn’t completely out of potable water, his supply was low so we passed him the last of our 2.5 gallon jugs of drinking water to get him safely to his next water cache.

This pack-up of our gear took a little longer because we were all heading home to different provinces and states. Val had to leave right away, so we retrieved all our stuff from him and each crew loaded up everything from paddles and PFDs to food, tents, camps stoves and fuel, etc. It took a bit of time, but it was soon all tucked into place. And we were off.

Th original plan was to go to Zortman, Montana and camp for the night. In a funny kind of osmosis of conversation, we all declared that it would be better to go directly to our next stop – The Chief Joseph Battle ground of the Bears Paw (a National Historic Site). From there we’d look for a motel in Havre or Great Falls.

So off we drove to what turned out to be a wonderful monument to the Nez Perce and their heroic efforts to keep their land and way of life in the face of growing settlement pressures and cultural onslaught. This is the site of the famous quote from Chief Joesph – ‘From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever’.

If you get a chance, go to this site – a poignant recollection of different times and sentiments, and its trails and interpretation are thoughtfully done.

At this point, we effectively headed off in our own various directions – Merle and his crew from Alberta found a motel in Havre. From there, tomorrow morning, they’ll drive almost directly north to cross back into Canada over the Coutts Crossing at Sweet Grass, Montana.

For our part, Chuck, Bob, Kris and I continued to drive west to For Trenton where we picked up Kris’s truck. At that point, I drove with Kris and we continued on to find a Days Inn motel in Great Falls.

Ohhhh, now let me tell you how absolutely wonderful it felt to have a shower and to put on new and clean clothes. I’d had the riverbank bath at Eagle Creek – but there’s nothing quite like the feel of hot water, real shampoo, clean towels and clean clothes at the end of 9 days of wilderness paddling! Try it sometime – you’ll know exactly what I mean.