2021 Bob Marshall Wilderness Open

What is ‘linear travel’?
Even on ‘the surface of a paved road’? Can you do it above or under the surface?

Cheers

Come visit Roger, then you’ll understand.

The Blackfoot-Clearwater WMA is open May 15, and is a very cool place to walk through.  But, yes punishing the raftless more than usual this year.  Sorry not sorry?

mike, tom , here we go again ! its looking like the michigan crew is coming back-  covid or not , we’ve got some scores to settle with the “Bob”- haven’t looked at the route yet , but judging from your comments—

Am I crazy for thinking the best route from Benchmark to the Blackfoot is off trail over Observation Point and down the Dry Fork? Maybe @twofeathers has seen that section before?

Interesting indeed! Andrew, what happened to keeping route info a little close to the vest this far out ;)    Put on some skis and investigate!

Hope everyone is doing well out there.

Kyle

Check out the patchwork of land ownership in the southern portion of the route…

If I make it out there this year I imagine I’ll do the bottom 4 or 5 miles of the Dry Fork into NF Blackfoot. Hope it’s not a huge water year so the NF isn’t too high to boat.

Ive paddled the NF Blackfoot twice, once at around 1200 CFS and once at like 450.  1200 is legit Class IV, my guess from that flow is that somewhere around 1500 or 1800 it gets a bit technically easier but the consequences of a swim continue to get worse. I can’t access the USGS data for the flow on the first day of the open in 2018, but from my memory of the hike up I think that whatever that flow was is probably the province of big water Class V kayakers.

I probably wouldn’t get on it alone above about 1800 or with a partner above 2500. For many other packrafters those cutoffs are likely to bet lower; I think it mostly depends on your comfort level in the boat. Of course we wont know the flows to that level of detail having spent the last 36 hours in the backcountry, but it’s a useful reference I think. If you’re dropping in from the North (and so can’t scout the river on the hike in) the availability of a wood report from the current season is also a factor in the decision matrix.

Below where the NF Blackfoot comes out of the mountains it looks like Class II, ditto the Blackfoot proper. So probably fine during runoff as long as you’re heads up about wood. But other folks who have paddled that stretch will probably have more info.

End of the road for the start.

Will encapsulated the range of possibilities well.  2018 was as big as I’ve seen the North Fork, and at least 1 in 5 years it never gets that big.  That said, at any flow the crux 4 miles is not to be taken lightly.  It’s been remarkably wood free for years now, but who knows when that will change.