The Wright Family vs. The Smith River: a trip to remember

The massive limestone rock walls Montana’s Smith River carves through the landscape give you a real sense of the passage of time. This passage of time is written not only by how the sun travels more quickly over the narrow canyon walls than in most of Montana’s big sky, but also in how the very distinguished, often blazon, red layers pile upon each other. It is different than traveling to Rome, or even the east coast, where you feel insignificant in civilized history (especially coming from the west). It is more of a feeling of smallness in a river ecosystem where man has little to do with its path, a path it has carved for millions of years. I left feeling strongly connected to and fiercely protective of this sanctuary of sorts so we can share it with generations to come. If I were to be honest, a lot of Montana feels this way. We are defined by our untouched pieces of paradise. I am not going to lie, there were a few more houses along the way than I expected. There were also a couple of instances when I felt the vibration of my phone connect to some distant cell tower, but it was comforting to let it go and really sit in awe of the surroundings we were lucky enough to see and embrace our time together as family and friends.

I wrote my first blog about our Smith River expedition in a nervous search for answers to my questions regarding camping by boat.  I obsessively researched what we needed to bring and how to pack. I’m not going to say it didn’t pay off because we packed really well! Other than having too much food and failing in the sunscreen department (the aerosol can lost it’s aerosol as I was spraying my second twin on launch day), it was time well spent to be prepared. Overall, the trip was a wonderful experience and I can let go of those unknown worries for future trips.  

TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

First off, we went in the third week of June and this worked for us.  Our kids had just been released from school for the summer and the weather was about two weeks behind seasonally so the river was still flowing at a rate we could make it over the shallows. I don’t really know the irrigation flow, so maybe it stays at this level for a while and doesn’t become untravellable, but it seemed like if we were much later in the season, we would be walking our boat in certain areas.  The fishing wasn’t great, but since this was not the mission for anyone in our party, it wasn’t a big deal. My husband had a friend that went in April and it was a complete washout this year, terrible fishing and weather.  Just remember when you put in for a permit, research historical streamflow over the dates you hope to go.  My husband pays pretty close attention to the Smith River’s streamflow on USGS’s website.

Camp Baker put-in.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT PUT-IN

Upon arriving at the Camp Baker put-in, we were not prepared for the mass of people.  It was a little disconcerting that at noon, the day before our float, we discovered people still lined up to launch and were doing so until about 3pm. There was a funny mix of launchers: day of, next day and even folks already congregating for the day after we launched.  The first people in our party arrived at 10:45am placing us ninth of nine parties to launch the following day.  We realized we should have heeded Cross-Currents’ advice on being there by 7:30am, when the doors open, the day prior to your float.  We spoke to a gal who slept on the concrete pad in front of the FWP building to ensure an early spot.  This is serious stuff, people – here is your memo.  While it seemed a little defeating at the time, it really wasn’t a big deal.  The Smith doesn’t disappoint a single soul that floats it. If we were to do it again, we may try to get there earlier to get a better launch position because being able to choose your camping spots can make your days on the river a little more even and you can avoid some of the least desirable sites.  But, being last also had its perks; we didn’t have everyone breathing down our necks to get out of dodge so they could hit the river.

As mentioned in my first blog, we opted to have only one of our vehicles shuttled to the take-out. I mention this because instead of backing up and plopping our boat in the water, we had to empty everything out of the boat, haul it about 100 yards to the water and then reload our things (which also makes going last a little more appealing).  While the trucks taxied to the take-out, a few of us stayed back, set up camp in the dusty little Camp Baker Campground and prepared for our Taco party all while entertaining my kids with bug detail and launching monster trucks over collapsible tables (you know, the usual).  Note:  There is no fresh water at this campground.  The spots are first come, first served, and because there are a lot of ground squirrels cleaning up the campground, there are holes everywhere!

AND WE ARE OFF!

Day 1 on the Smith

We woke-up with the sunrise, shimmied out of our sleeping bags, and enjoyed some pre-made gluten free biscuits and gravy. We watched keenly, front and center, between the two launch spots from our campsite, as all eight parties launched. The ranger visits each of the nine parties in signed-in order to assign camp spots. When it is your turn, the ranger takes your fees (they take credit card), gives your party the spiel regarding bears, fires, respecting private property, not overdoing it on drinking (and leaving dirty underwear – ahem gross), keeping your campsite clean and the basic highlights along the way – i.e. freshwater springs and pictographs. Additionally, he informs you of the only place to get ice along the way, the potential portage location on the river 1000’ before you take-out and you also choose your campsites from what is still available and what makes the most sense for your trip length.  Our float was three nights.  We were released to launch about 1pm (which seems a little better than the folks that were finally launching at 3pm the day we got there).  After all our boats were in the water and loaded, we launched at about 2pm and enjoyed a 17.8-mile float on the water to our first camping spot.  This was a little bit longer than we had hoped to float, but unless we opted to float to the closest campsites 4.4 miles in (which with the flow rate would have taken us about an hour), it got us up the river a little further and took about 3.5 hours.

We fly-fished (not overly serious – for one, I am still learning to oar so my husband can fish and two, the water was still a bit murky here), picnicked, ate yummy homemade cookies, gulped down some of the sweetest freshwater you can taste right off the mountain (with only a little worry about giardia), discussed in great detail the different layers in the cliffs (and all of the dinosaurs smashed in there), talked about who lives in the caves (probably zombie bats), and saw a lot of swallow tail butterflies. My son napped; we finally got him to wake-up just in time to see the pictograph hands on the rock wall at 16.8 miles. To finish off the day on the river, we started counting goslings (because why not?!?).

Day 1 on the Smith – Pictograph Hands at 16.8 miles; Indian Springs Freshwater spring (across the river from the campsites); and the Latrine at Two Creek campsite, 17.8 miles.

We pulled into our first campsite at Two Creek (17.8 miles in) which is a small dry ledge with a smattering of bushes in the back and a lot of goose poop.  My daughter immediately needed to find the loo. In my first blog, I mentioned my fear of the latrine.  At Two Creek, the latrine is a long hike up and behind the campsite to a beautiful meadow.  We were told to carry bear spray with us at all times; apparently, the bears think the latrines are an easy place to snack.  We hiked all the way up there and I decided someone needs to do a picture-book called, “My View from the Loo” because if they were all like this, wowzer. One of our party said a little lime added to the latrine would go a long way for the stench.  We enjoyed a very yummy pulled pork dinner and had Oreos and s’mores for dessert, all while trying to avoid the huge amount of goose poop.  We joked that they really should do something about that.  The next morning, we packed up, ate breakfast (gluten free pancakes with raspberries on top), and were on the river again!  My son made a lovely art piece for the next group to enjoy.

Day 2 on the Smith – Bear Gulch Spring at 29 miles in (right after Bear Gulch campsites); Ice Cream at Heaven on Earth Ranch at 29-ish miles in; and Trout Creek campsite at 30.3 miles in.

Day Two on the Smith

Day two on the river was beautiful!  We did much of the same, cliff gazing, bird watching (the mergansers are so neat to watch with their ducklings).  My son counted to 1000 for the first time.  Which again, why not?!?!  We paddled into a really cool cave that almost knocked one of our party over, filled up our water with more of the purest water you could drink, and saw a beaver taking a siesta under a rock ledge.  We stopped in for some Wilcoxson’s ice cream (my daughter tried the cookie ice cream sandwich, which was huge!) and picked up some ice at Heaven on Earth (about 29 miles in).  Our gosling count was up to 87.  We pulled out at Trout Creek (30.3 miles in) to camp for the evening just as it started to rain.

Trout Creek is a wooded area with a lot of mosquitoes that laugh in the face of bug spray.  It rained and they took shelter for a brief moment only to get you while dodging a rain drop. The latrine was closer, but a with little less impressive view and the mosquitoes were really out to get you there.  Because of the rain, my husband got to try his new tarp/pole system I wrote about in my first blog.  It was very successful, but it only rained briefly.  We all concurred that it was because we put up said tarp shelter.  For dinner, one of our party made the best chili with chips and a seriously good caprese kabob.  So good.  Food is even better when you don’t have to cook, especially being a mom who cooks all the time at home!  My husband popped jiffy pop on the fire and then we went off to bed scratching our annoying mosquito bites.

Day 3 on the Smith – Paradise Bend campsite at 39.5 miles in; and the cave above the campsite.

Day Three on the Smith

We woke up to another beautiful day!  We packed, the kids made a fun fairy house for the next party, and ate a nice breakfast.  The kids and Jacob had their second helping of biscuits and gravy and I had oatmeal with fresh blueberries. Day three was our shortest float of the trip, about 9 miles (so only a couple hours on the water).  My family was in the lead this day.  We stopped for a picnic at a lovely spot – more yummy cookies, counted several more goslings, but we missed the hike up to the cave with the pictographs ­­­– something to do next time!  We spoke to some folks who said the fishing was finally picking up and then, poof, we were at our campsite Paradise Bend (39.5 miles in)!  This campground was beautiful with some large cottonwood trees, a gorgeous meadow full of blanket flowers and some other wildflowers, with some cliffs as our backdrop. And guess what? The latrine was beautifully situated so you could gaze out at that meadow and the cliffs.

The weather was gorgeous. After setting up camp, we spent the bulk of the day enjoying the water and trying our hand at catching fish and crawdads. We used our biodegradable shampoo and washed off some of that bug spray from the night before. It was a perfect day by the river. My son recorded in his journal that our gosling count was up to 137.  We settled into some delicious jambalaya and cornbread and tested a new twist on s’mores, a fun Pinterest find by a gal in our party. After dinner, most of the party decided to take a hike to an upper cave. My daughter wanted to stay behind and work on her journal, so I stayed back with her. Jacob, my son and most everyone else ventured out with headlamps in tow to investigate.  They made it and waved at us down below. They were gone for a couple hours. My son reported that there was a lot of bat feces up there.

A startling thunderstorm awoke us during the night that surprisingly did not wake the twins.  It was probably one of the loudest booms I have heard in my life.  A deer also snorted through camp and jumped into the river in the early morning. My husband and I did not get much sleep. The rain settled in through the night and cooled everything off.  We woke up the next morning, changed into rain clothes and tried to high tail it out of camp as quickly as possible.  Which, with two six-year-olds is hard.

Day 4 on the Smith – made it to Eden Bridge take-out.

Day Four on the Smith

Day four on the river was our longest day, about 18 miles. It was also our coldest gloomiest day, but it was still pretty!  We stopped briefly to go to the bathroom and some of our party behind us said we jumped two bears in the meadow above the bank.  We hurried back into the boats to hopefully see the bears, but we never did.  We stopped at a nice spot for our last lunch on the river and enjoyed some homemade chocolate cookies!  The river opened up into a valley and we saw a lot more goslings; our number jumped to 237!  We saw domestic sheep, including a carcass caught on a downed tree.  At last, we came upon the place we were told was going to be a portage or carry-around with our boat, but luckily for us, the river had moved enough in the last couple of days that we could scoot by.  As we rolled into the takeout, Eden Bridge, the clouds opened up and it hailed and poured for about 45 minutes. It finally stopped as we got everything packed away and snapped our end of trip picture.  This is the wettest we got on the whole trip.

MY TAKEAWAY

We were away from technology and fully engaged with each other for four days. That says a lot this day and age.  We bonded with people we didn’t know at all when we started.  We saw some amazing parts of Montana you can only see by boat and only if you draw a permit.  We saw 237 goslings, several ground squirrels, a few does, hundreds of butterflies, one beaver, probably millions of mosquitoes (this may be a slight exaggeration), two bears (or so we were told),  domestic sheep, some very good merganser mamas and the ducklings they carried, the best drinking water my kids have tasted, excellent ice cream, some yummy homemade cookies, delicious dinners, and a lifetime of memories along an exquisite river corridor. We are all jonesin’ for our next river trip. Well, maybe not right away…..the whole thing was rather exhausting, but we definitely want to try for the Smith again (unfortunately the odds are not with us, we have something like a 3% chance of pulling a permit for the Smith in June & July), so we are looking forward to exploring other rivers in our area!  Look for our family friendly raft packing video in the future!  Happy oaring!