It POURED rain all night long. Very cool to fall asleep to, wake up in the middle of the night to, but when we woke up in the morning it wasn't such a welcome sound. We went and had breakfast at the lodge and during a slight break in the rain, packed the car and split. On the drive back to the cutoff, everybody was skirting the idea of just heading home. A little rain is fine, but a torrential downpour all night long was a little discouraging, especially since once you get on the river, there's no getting off for at least 3 days.
A few miles before the cutoff where we were going to have to make a decision we saw a GIANT bald eagle sitting in the grass just a few feet off the road. We slowed down, he took off and it was such a grand sight, we all were instantly refreshed and without exception decided to press on and hope for the best.
We arrived in Fort Benton at the outfitters to rent our canoes and give them our river schedule.(we highly recommend Adventure Bound Canoe) It was cloudy, but warm and this was encouraging. They informed us they had already put the canoes by the river, we just had to head out there, park the car and hop in them
It's pretty slick system - You drive your car to the put in where the canoes are waiting, load them up and hit the river. They pick up your car the next day and drive it to where you exit the river. Once you get off the river, you just park the canoes under a big tree, get in your car and leave. Handy.
Anyway, they don't recommend filtering the river water because of agricultural runoff etc and that's no problem since you're in canoes. It is a problem when you have 4 people and gear for a week stuffed in a Subaru. We just dropped 12 gallons of water on the girls laps in the backseat, figuring there was only had another 45 minutes to drive, and the wall of water jugs would muffle most of the whining
There were some choice words being spoken from the backseat at this moment that we look forward to sharing on the video/slideshow that my bro makes of the trip.
We drove for about 1/2 an hour and all of a sudden, the clouds parted and somewhere we heard angels singing.
The pavement ends about 20 minutes away from the river. They should call this stretch Anticipation Road, because that's what's happening right here people.
Destination! We unpacked all the gear and for a few moments, just took in that big Montana sky
Deep thoughts and reflections over, canoes packed, it's time to begin!
