|
Montana
Pack Trips into the
Bob Marshall Wilderness
- a family vacation -
Montana is a place of
vast prairies, spectacular snow-covered mountains, verdant forests, and wild
rivers and streams. Its land is filled with wildlife, its waters bountiful
with fish.
 The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is known as the
"crown jewel" of this wilderness system. There is high drama here and there is
great peace. Our trips begin where the Great Plains rise to meet the Rocky
Mountains. We climb with the land, from trout-rich rivers through lodgepole
forest and alpine meadows to towering limestone cliffs.
This is the home of the tiny shooting star and the 600 pound grizzly bear, the
mischievous Clark's nutcracker and the stately elk. In the glacial sweep of
low meadow and aspen groves, we often spot whitetail and mule deer. High
basins may yield fossils of unlikely sea plants, sponges and shellfish, as
well as today's living inhabitants, the pika, marmot, mountain goat and eagle.
 These trips are run our guides Ron and Tucker who were born and raised on a
cattle ranch in the Augusta area and have packed and guided here since 1959.
This is a a small, quality, family operation that takes pride in good stock,
equipment, food, camp facilities, and an experienced crew.
The heart of our Montana
wilderness operation is a base camp in the White
River, just four miles from
the continental divide and many well known landmarks, such as the
Chinese
Wall, Needle Falls, Flathead Alps, Big Salmon Lake and many others. There are
also many other areas of interest nearby that not as well known, such as the
"Lost World of Peggy Creek," for example. This area affords good opportunities
to see wildlife in one of the last natural strongholds in North America, and
many opportunities to fish for native cutthroat, both big and small.
Montana has been called the "last best place."
Come see why.
RTMT01
2007/08 Summer Schedule & Rates
All pack trips are in the Bob
Marshall Wilderness Complex
All trips are $ 225 per riding day (children $200)
 Your choice of trip will depend on your interests and
strengths and the make-up of your group. Some folks like to stay at one base
camp, spending their days fishing, hiking, and riding in small groups. Others
prefer a moving trip on which we break and move camp every other day. You will
be riding our own gentle, well loved mountain horses. No previous riding
experience is needed. A pack string of horses and mules will carry camp goods,
food, and duffel. You will have your camera and lunch in your saddlebags, and
jacket and rain gear on your saddle. At each campsite, an open tarp serves as
kitchen, game room, and mess hall. We specialize in good food served in a
casual atmosphere around the campfire or wood stove. Guests sleep in nylon
Eureka tents which easily accommodate two.
All trips are guided. On days when we do not move camp, which are
called layover days, several choices are usually offered, and all are guided.
* To convert miles into hours, figure that we ride at 3 m.p.h.
For The Fisher Folk
Bring your family and your pole. You will find excellent trout fishing on
the Dearborn and Sun Rivers, the South Fork of the Flathead, and the
headwaters of the Blackfoot, the setting of the book on which Robert Redford
based his 1992 movie "A River Runs Through It".
The Sun and Flathead Rivers are particularly rewarding for the novice and the
expert. The Dearborn, however, has the densest trout population. Fish in all
these rivers, primarily cutthroat, rainbow, and brown, feed aggressively on
dry flies and small nymphs Our catch-and-release record is 105 fish caught in
three hours.
Bob Marshall Wilderness
- an Introduction
The
1,009,356 acre Bob Marshall Wilderness is located in Northwestern Montana
approximately 75 miles west of Great Falls. The "Bob" straddles the
Continental Divide with elevations ranging from 4,000 feet along the valley
floors to more than 9,000 feet at mountain summits. The Wilderness includes
the headwaters of the Flathead River to the west and the Sun River to the
east.
 Many credit
early forester, Wilderness preservation pioneer, and Wilderness Society
cofounder Bob Marshall with single-handedly protecting at least 5.4 million
acres of wildland. The least he deserves is to have this pristine area named
for him. This region, in fact, was set aside as the South Fork, Pentagon, and
Sun River Primitive Areas in 1941, and designated the "Bob" in 1964. Here is
one of the most completely preserved mountain ecosystems in the world, the
kind of Wilderness most people can only imagine: rugged peaks, alpine lakes,
cascading waterfalls, grassy meadows embellished with shimmering streams, a
towering coniferous forest, and big river valleys.
The Wilderness, which includes the North and South Forks of
the Sun River and the Middle and South Forks of the Flathead River, runs for
60 miles along the Continental Divide, with elevations ranging from 4,000 feet
to more than 9,000 feet. A huge escarpment called the Chinese Wall, a part of
the Divide, highlights the Bob's vast untrammeled beauty, with an average
height of more than 1,000 feet and a length of 22 miles. The Chinese Wall
extends into Scapegoat Wilderness to the south. The Bob Marshall Wilderness
Complex (which encompasses Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Great Bear
Wildernesses) is the last holdout habitat south of Canada for the grizzly
bear, and in my opinion, nothing speaks of Wilderness as eloquently as griz.
Sharing turf with the great bears is every species of mammal indigenous to the
northern Rocky Mountains, except bison, which once roamed the lower slopes,
and woodland caribou, which live farther north.
You'll find more than 1,000 miles of a well-developed trail
system, with maintained paths giving way to less well managed trails as you
travel deeper into Montana's largest Wilderness. Approximately half of the
many visitors to the Bob ride in on horseback.
The South Fork
The main trails of the Bob Marshall Wilderness all lead into or out of the
South Fork of the Flathead River valley. This valley is wide in places, and
big Salmon Lake - the largest in the Wilderness - is perhaps one of the most
popular destinations in the backcountry. Outfitters have been packing into the
South Fork area since the 1920s when the "rich and famous" from Hollywood and
elsewhere came here for adventure and to get away from the pressures of city
life. The South Fork is the heart of the Wilderness area and many historic
landmarks are accessible from here.
The Chinese Wall
One of the most spectacular sights in the Bob Marshall is the Chinese Wall.
Also known as the Lewis Overthrust, this wall is the result of the geologic
upheaval in which Montana split "wide open" from Glacier Park on the north
nearly to Yellowstone Park on the south. As the earth's crust split, the west
side tipped up like a roof; the east side slid under the "roof" for nearly 20
miles, forming the Chinese Wall. From the Haystack Mountain area west of the
Continental Divide, the view of the 1,000-foot high Chinese Wall is virtually
unbroken for nearly 20 miles. The Chinese Wall is home to many mountain goats
and mountain sheep. Eagles also make these high cliffs their home, and often
glide in the wind currents.
Scapegoat Mountain
You'll find rugged terrain in the Scapegoat Mountain area at the southern end
of the Wilderness Complex, but you're also likely to see abundant wildlife
including elk, deer, bear and mountain goats. The mountain was named by a
surveyor who had difficulty mapping the area in the late 1800s.
The Bob Marshall Story
Bob Marshall was a forester, author, explorer and leader in the protection of
wild lands throughout America. Before Marshall's untimely death, he spent
days, weeks and months hiking the unmapped country known as the South Fork of
the Flathead River. By the late 1930s, he had laid out initial plans for the
designation of the Wilderness area, which included three separate primitive
areas: South Fork, Sun River and Pentagon. Marshall was outspoken about the
need for protecting wild lands. Today, he is also looked upon as the moving
force behind the creation of the Wilderness Society, which still leads the
fight for continued protection of our Wilderness areas.
Marshall convinced federal officials and lawmakers that wilderness should be
protected. In 1940, shortly after he died, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
designated as wilderness 950,000 acres surrounding the South Fork of the
Flathead, the Sun River Game Preserve, and the Continental Divide.
In 1964, The Wilderness Act was passed by Congress and the Bob Marshall
Wilderness received statutory wilderness protection as a part of the National
Wilderness Preservation System. Today, more than 750,000 acres of undeveloped,
roadless areas still surround the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
Geography
The high mountains of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex rise to over 9,000
feet, the highest being Rocky Mountain on the Eastern Front at 9,392. Holland
Peak, part of the "Swan Front" on the western edge of the Wilderness, rises to
9,356 feet. In the southern portion of the complex, Scapegoat Mountain towers
above that wild country at 9,204 feet.
The valley floors throughout the Wilderness average 4,000 feet in elevation.
The Continental Divide, which stretches more than 60 miles along the length of
the Wilderness, separates the Bob Marshall into several large headwater
drainage areas.
Wildlife
The Bob Marshall Wilderness is home to elk, whitetail and mule deer, and
provides critical habitat to the endangered grizzly bears and gray wolves.
Canadian lynx, bobcat, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, wolverines and cougars
are also found in the area, along with smaller mammals such as beaver, river
otters, snowshoe hares and marten. There are dozens of birds who call this
area home, especially in the summer. Bald eagles, falcons, hawks, owls,
grouse, woodpeckers - they are all abundant here. In camp areas, you'll find
Steller's jays, Clark's nutcrackers, camp robbers, chickadees, nuthatches and
more.
|
|
