2023 Bob Marshall Wilderness Open

My plan, never having done this before, is to drive from MN (like 16hrs), park at Marias, and coordinate some carpool here around to the start. I believe that has worked out before, but we will see.

Looking good Mike. Next year for sure ;)

A kayaker told me that he ran that stretch in 2020. Two more kayakers also ran the creek from 8ish miles above the lake down in the same year and encountered quite a bit of class V. The guy I talked to said that  the whitewater below the lake wasn’t worth it for all the wood he had to deal with, but I agree that it looks clean-ish on sat. It’s possible that some wood got flushed between his run and the most recent photos, but I also think it’s possible that he confused the hike up from the SF with painful wood portages on the way down. That he felt that the whitewater was unworthy of the schlepping required to run suggest the difficulty level may be appropriate for a Bob-opener (barring wood), although obviously it doesn’t mean on its own that the rapids are good to go for a stripped down packraft set-up. I bet Dave has looked at some of Big Salmon with a packrafter’s eye, I’d be curious to hear him chime in.

Also that REI hyperlink is autoembedding and I can’t figure out how to remove it which is really weird. Not tryna push product on you all!

I’ve ran the bit below Big Salmon 3 times over the past decade and always found it fun, with not too much wood (from a wilderness perspective).  Never been on it at high water.  Scouting or portaging obviously not a big deal.

Below Barrier Falls Big Salmon is probably never more than even with good walking speed on the trail.  A lot of flatish water and plenty of beaver action, with some rapids thrown in at higher flows.  The ~mile above barrier is as steep and continuous as it looks on sat photos, and portaging is not so simple.  Probably a cool stretch for the right crew at the right flow and the right time (i.e. well flushed out) but I can’t imagine ever schwacking over to look at it again.

I’m an experienced backpacker but a novice to pack rafting. I’m considering  rafting to spotted bear. Any thoughts?

David M messaged me on here, but I accidentally deleted the message. Apparently there’s a few people on here with that name, can you re-send your message? Thanks!

Getting excited, only 6 weeks out! A lot can change between now and then, but so far looks to be average year for snow.

I just booked my flights.  My buddy Marc and I will be there. Our first Open.  Although my parents live outside of Swan Lake, so I have spent part of every summer for the last 20 years backing packing through the Bob. Just never this early in the season.

Would welcome car shuttle.  And I can offer a shower and a home cooked meal if someone needs it.

Anyone know when the gauge on the S. Fork Flathead will start to read? Curious as to what the levels are now. I bet they will be well over 10K by the start.

Finally looked at snotel data since the warm weather… wow! MT and northern ID are dropping like rocks

After a few missed training opportunities and a few ugly, surprising swims this year, I realized I wouldn’t be able to safely run the big water section of the Middle Fork from Schafer down. Other routes aren’t getting me excited enough to put forth the effort required to finish in two days.

One great thing about the Bob Open has always been its ability to inspire people to push further and expand beyond what we already know we can do. In that spirit, I’m going to take advantage of my Bob Open training and current fitness to do a new(?) loop in the Bob that takes advantage of the spring flows and will let me see a lot of the area.

I’ve been toying around with doing a big loop trip that hits as many rivers as practical in May, but can be done in under 8 days. I’d appreciate advice and feedback from anybody watching this forum, as my route has a few off-trail passes on it that make me nervous from Google Earth.

I hope everybody has a great time during this year’s BMWO, and if you’re way off-route, maybe I’ll even see you out there!

My route post is here.