Rafting Montana’s Clark Fork River

ROW headquarters, Superior, Montana

(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.

Lowering the rafts into the Clark Fork River

(guiding the rafts towards the Clark Fork River)

Rafting the Clark Fork River, Montana

Rafting the Clark Fork River, Montana

(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.

Bald eagle, spotted while rafting the Clark Fork River, Montana

Ottoman, one of our TG contributors, rafting the Clark Fork

(TG contributor, Ottoman, enjoying the journey)

Rafting the Clark Fork River, Montana

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.

Clark Fork River, Montana

Hills around the Clark Fork River

Hills around the Clark Fork River

Clark Fork River rapids

Clark Fork River rapids

(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!

Rafting the Clark Fork River

Upside down on Clark Fork River

Upside down on Clark Fork River

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:

Video 1        Video 2       Video 3

Clark Fork River, Montana

Clark Fork River, Montana

Clark Fork River, Montana

Tributary to the Clark Fork River

Clark Fork River, Montana

Clark Fork River -- Relic of water chute

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10 years ago

I was enjoying the photos – until I saw the upturned boat !

I think I’ll pass until I get a waterproof watch !

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10 years ago

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.

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