My wife and I are ';young'; seniors and fit and active. We are driving %26#39;cross country in July and will cross Montana from West Yellowstone to Coeur D%26#39;Alene, ID. We would like to do a rafting trip the would have great scenery and yet not float really challenging white water. ';Entertaining'; white water would be fine. We welcome any suggestions from the forum. Thanks.
rafting suggestion for good scenery for seniors
My cousins from Three Forks like to float the Madison River, and I%26#39;ve wanted to float the Jefferson River for it%26#39;s scenic beauty, but haven%26#39;t had time to work that into a trip yet. I believe both are fairly tame. From within the Three Forks-Bozeman valley (floating the Jefferson, Madison or Gallatin Rivers), you%26#39;re able to view several mountain ranges (Tobacco Roots, Elkhorn Mtns, Bridger Range, Gallatin Range %26amp; northern end of the Madison Range). Plus this area has a big deer population - last July we saw Mulies %26amp; Whitetails, and several bucks had huge racks. You%26#39;re likely to see antelope plus smaller critters; also, songbirds as well as Osprey %26amp; other birds of prey.
Nearly every time we%26#39;ve come up the Gallatin Canyon road (US 191) we%26#39;ve seen rafts on the Gallatin River, but it looks pretty rough thru that stretch with huge boulders to manuever around %26amp; lots of whitewater. The Yellowstone River is very beautiful going thru the Paradise Valley, but that might put you too far east of your route to Idaho. I hope someone will post who has some experience floating these rivers.
rafting suggestion for good scenery for seniors
The Madison has some wild water south of Ennis in the Bear Trap Canyon... So stay out of there. It certainly isn%26#39;t what you describe. My floats on the rest of the Madison and Jefferson have been flat and boring, more about fishing in the sections between the Bear Trap and Three Forks. The Gallatin is the smallest of the three. I believe up by Big Sky there is some more active but not crazy rafting.
The Yellowstone in Paradise Valley north of Gardiner certainly qualifies as a float of that type. Look around in Livingston for an outfitter. Very pretty scenic valley with the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness to the east.
The Yellowstone south of Livingston is not as small, hence it all flattens out. It is still fun, but flows the wrong direction for you (eastbound).
Good fishing on all these rivers, BTW. The Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin are destination trout fishing streams, as is the upper Yellowstone and smaller tributaries flowing into it.
The season of the year is important. You need to be the most careful early in summer during spring runoff. At Ennis there is a dam, so the water level is controlled from that point and downstream on the Madison. Late in August the water level can get low, but these are major rivers so they don%26#39;t dry up or anything!
West on I-90 there is the Clark%26#39;s Fork in Missoula but I don%26#39;t know much about that area.
I meant the Yellowstone past Livingston, which is east not south. It is the Yellowstone south of Livingston which might be a good choice.
I%26#39;m sorry if what I wrote was a bit confusing - I was trying to suggest floating portions of the Jefferson, Madison or Gallatin Rivers from inside the Three Forks-Bozeman valley to the headwaters of the Missouri River, not the areas where they are going thru the mountains/canyons. I agree those areas should be avoided unless you have the experience it takes, and I hope that the most dangerous parts have warnings/prohibitions posted.
I%26#39;ve fished from the bank at places along all three of these rivers plus Willow Creek (within the Three Forks-Bozeman valley), and I think the views are really scenic, and I%26#39;ve always seen wildlife. But as my husband says, ';To each his own.'; The Jefferson %26amp; Madison didn%26#39;t look boring to me, but then again I haven%26#39;t floated them yet, just walked %26amp; fished along the banks. My cousins seem to really enjoy floating the Madison, as they have several others from which to choose and pick this one most often.
If you weren%26#39;t planning on going thru the Three Forks area, the area around Missoula is very scenic as well, and portions of both the Clark Fork %26amp; Blackfoot Rivers may be good choices. If you%26#39;d like to check out www.visitmt.com, you can order a 2009 Montana vacation planning packet that should have info on float trips. Maybe something in one of the ads will catch your eye. There should also be some info on their website.
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