Missouri Breaks Canoe Trip
July 1-9, 2021

Note: My dad had read about this canoe trip on the Missouri River through central Montana almost 25 years ago, but we could never get a trip organized. Everything finally lined up and we made this trip happen on the year he turned 70. We paddled 149 miles on the Missouri River from Fort Benton, Montana to James Kipp Recreation area, following Lewis and Clark's route. Little development has occurred on most parts of this section of the river and most days we saw few to no people. In essence, it feels like you are going back to the time of the Corps of Discovery's expedition on the river.

Finally made it to Fort Benton

Thursday, July 1: We left our home around 7:30am. We stopped at the $50,000 Silver Dollar bar/store just inside the Montana border so the kids could buy some souvenirs. After a stop at the Costco in Helena and dinner in Great Falls, we finally arrived at Fort Benton around 8pm (MST). It was still really hot outside, so after we set up camp at the canoe launch, the kids went and played in the river. The zipper on the girls’ old REI Half Dome tent finally busted after 25 years of use, so we will need to get a new tent before we get on the river.

Friday, July 2: I woke up around 6:00am and went for a walk around the town of Fort Benton and along the river. It is a really nice small town with lots of history. Since it was the furthest up the Missouri River you could go with steamboats, it became an important trading area and one of the first towns in Montana. After breakfast I drove back to Great Falls with the boys to buy a new tent. I decided on a Mountainsmith four-man tent, which Becky and I will use and the girls will use our new REI two-man tent.

Cooling off

When we got back to Fort Benton, the whole family went for a walk to the BLM visitor center to learn more about the area and the trip. Shortly thereafter, Dad, Sally, and Steve H. arrived with the canoes and most of the gear. We unloaded everything in the heat (it was still over 100 degrees). After that, dad, Steve H., and I shuttled cars over to the James Kipp recreation area (the take-out point). It took us almost 5 hours to shuttle cars (about 140 miles each way). Once we got back to Fort Benton we ate a big spaghetti dinner and prepped the canoes for the launch tomorrow.

Prepping the Canoes

Making dinner

Saturday, July 3: We got up at 6:00am, ate breakfast and started staging the canoes and the boat ramp. We finally pushed off and left Fort Benton at 10:00am. We began our trip by floating through town, under some of the bridges and along the old dike.

Getting ready to push off from Fort Benton

Paddling through Fort Benton

Quick lunch break

We ate lunch along the river at river mile 10. During the day we saw lots of bald eagles, deer, pelicans, and other birds. It was still hot, around 100 degrees. The kids cooled off with squirt guns as we were floating down the river. We floated into Black Bluff rapids camp around 4:30pm. For the day, we covered 19.4 miles and averaged around 3 mph. We ate a tasty stir fry for dinner and some of the kids went for a swim in the river to cool off. In the evening, Steve H. and Sally saw a rattlesnake down by the river.

Arriving at Black Bluffs

Long day on the river

Getting dinner ready

Black Bluffs

Some of our canoe flags. They were great for checking wind direction.

Sunday, July 4: We got up at 6:30am, broke camp and ate breakfast burritos. We were on the water by 9:30am. We did a lot of paddling today (and it was still very hot outside). We saw even more eagles along the river today. We pulled in to Coal Banks landing around 4:30 pm. Overall, we covered around 22 miles today (the last few seemed to take forever).

Breaking down camp

Nestle trying to stay cool

Lunch stop

All of us got in the river to cool off for a bit. Most people start at Coal Banks, so there is a neat log cabin visitor center and large campground. Since it was so hot, no one else was camping there. The visitor center host was extremely friendly and helpful and let us hang out in the air-conditioned visitor center and store some of our food there. He said the river was only running about 4,500 cfs (cubic feet per second), when it should be about 9,000 at this time of the year. The boat launch there wasn't even accessible. We decided to camp in the shade right next to the visitor center, even though it wasn’t really a camp site.

4th of July Dinner

Since it is the 4^th of July, we decided to cook and eat dinner down by the river. At sunset we took a group picture with our new Cabelas shirts. Most of us were pretty tired after today. We sat on the porch of the visitor center and relaxed. There were some bats living in one of the beams of the porch roof.

4th of July group picture in our new shirts

Helping to fold the flag at the visitor center

Relaxing on the visitor center porch

Camping in the shade (a little too close to the outhouse though)

Coal Banks Landing visitor center

Watch for Rattlesnakes!

Monday, July 5: We got up at 6:00am and started packing. There was a lot of wind last night and the weather was a bit cooler in the morning. We topped off all of our water containers, since we would not have access to clean water until we finished the trip. This meant we had to carry a gallon of water per person, per day. I think we had over 65 gallons of water between the five canoes. We pushed off around 8:30am.

Getting ready for the day

For the first couple of miles we faced a head wind, which meant a lot of paddling. Around mile 52 we started into the White Cliffs section of the river. It is very pretty scenery. Lewis and Clark were amazed by this section during their journey up the river. We stopped around mile 54 for lunch. We then tried to find Neat Coulee (a slot canyon) around mile 56, but couldn’t find the trail. Steve H. and I got out to scout out the area and thought we could see where the coulee started, but it would require us to bushwhack a ½ mile or so through tall grass, which isn’t the smartest thing to do in rattlesnake country at midday.

Entering the White Cliffs section

We continued on, passing Citadel Rock and arrived at our campsite at Hole in the Wall. There were a ton of cattle along the river by our campsite, so swimming was definitely not an option. We covered around 21.5 miles today and were tired. We were going to hike to the hole in the wall, but it looked too far and we didn’t want to run out of daylight. The campsite had two nice log cabin shelters which provided a nice shady spot to cook and relax.

Citadel Rock

Great glove tan lines!

Relaxing after a long day on the river

Great log cabin shelter at the Hole in the Wall campsite

Hole in the Wall Campsite

Beaver close to the river bank

The calm before the storms during the night

Since there were no clouds in the sky when we went to bed and still very warm, none of us put the rainflies on our tents. Around 12:45am I started seeing a lot of lightning and heard thunder. My dad saw and heard the same, so quickly all of the adults got up and threw on the rainflies. As soon as we climbed back into our tents, the heavens opened and a massive storm cell moved through our area. For about an hour we had a strong and heavy rain, powerful wind (we estimated 40-50mph gusts), and thunder and lightning that seemed to be hitting all around us. The storm let up for a bit and dad and I went down to check on the canoes. They all had 4-5 inches of water in them, but they were still secure. By the time we got back to our tents, storm cell number two rolled through the area and was just as bad as the first. For a minute I thought about ditching the tents and going into the log shelters, but our weight was basically holding the tents down. Steve H.’s tent started leaking so he abandoned it and slept in the shelter. Becky and I took turns holding up the walls of the tent. The storms truly tested the limits of all of our tents, but they all held up well. Things finally calmed down around 3am. None of us got a lot of sleep.

Drying off tents after the storms

Tuesday, July 6: We got up and tried to dry things out from the storms that rolled through last night. After blueberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast, we loaded up and got on the river by 9:15am.

Seven Sisters rock formation

We had some headwind again today, but it wasn’t too strong. Due to all of the rain, the river was a chocolate milk brown color, which made it very hard to tell the depth of the water. The scenery was great again today, with many different formations. Some of the formations were named, while others we came up with names for.

Seven Sisters

Steve H.

Cool lava walls with white rock (limestone?)

We named this one either the Michelin Man or the Cobra

Watching a storm pass on the horizon

We finally rolled into Judith Landing around 5:15pm, covering about 25.5 miles (it was a long day). The campground there is usually only used for groups either taking out there or starting there, so there was no great place to tie up the boats. We ended up just camping over by the boat ramp. We stayed up and watched a storm pass on the horizon. Everyone is tired but having fun.

Breaking camp at Judith Landing

Wednesday, July 7: We got up around 6:00am and broke camp. We loaded the canoes and were on the river by 8:30am. The landscape has changed now that we are in the Breaks section. Fortunately it was cooler today, but we did have a head wind most of the day (more paddling).

Little green snake in camp

Packing up at Judith Landing

Entering the Breaks section of the Missouri River

McClelland/Stafford ferry crossing

We stopped for lunch at a spot right after the McClelland/Stafford ferry. After lunch the sky started getting dark behind us, so we needed to paddle faster (we did not want to be on the river in a storm). We almost missed our campsite. Dad and I had a hard time finding our location on our maps. We thought we still had a mile or so to go, so we kept paddling. I happened to look over at the right bank and saw two trees and remembered that the campsite was called “Two Trees”. There appeared to be a sign against one of the trees, so I quickly got out my binoculars. Sure enough, it was the campsite! We pulled in around 3:45pm, covering 23 miles for the day.

Two Trees Campsite

Making sure the storm passes by us

It still looked like it was going to rain, so we got our tents set up and the shelter set up over the cooking area. It got windy and sprinkled, but we missed the storm. After dinner Becky and the kids went and climbed up to some of the rocks on the hillside. It is very quiet here. Other than the people we saw at Judith Landing, we haven’t seen a single person all day.

Looking down at our campsite "Two Trees"

Thursday, July 8: We got up around 6:00am and packed. We had some really good apple cinnamon pancakes and sausage for breakfast. We were off and on the river by 8:50am. Most of the morning we had a tail wind and a quick current and were averaging a little over 4 mph. We ate lunch at Gist Bottom campsite and saw a bull snake (we still have only seen one rattler the whole trip).

Lunch at Gist Bottom campsite

Unfortunately, Dad's dry bag didn't stay dry. Guns and water don't mix. He was able to get some of the rust off.

One of the many bald eagles we saw along the river

After lunch we were still making good time and got to our campsite at Woodhawk around 2pm. We covered a little under 20 miles. At the campsite there were two people that were canoeing the river and an older couple that had driven there. They were the first people we had seen in two days.

Visiting the old Nelson Homestead

After setting up camp, we hiked over to the old Nelson Homestead and looked around. We still didn’t see or hear any rattlesnakes. After dinner we hiked on the road up to the top of the hill. The view was amazing right around sunset.

Nelson Homestead

No rattlesnakes out here!

View of the Missouri River from above our campsite

Nestle claiming a chair

Last day of packing up camp

Friday, July 9: We got up early and got on the river by 7:40am. Not too much scenery today. There was also not a lot of current in some sections, but we also didn’t have a head wind and it wasn’t too hot outside. We were making good time, covering a little over 4 mph. We pulled into the boat ramp at Kipp’s Landing at 12:10pm. We covered 18.5 miles today, bringing the total to a little over 149 miles. It took us over two and a half hours to load up all of the gear and the canoes. We finally hit the road around 2:30pm. Dad, Sally, and Steve H. headed back to Fort Benton, while we went to Great Falls and then drove straight home, rolling into our driveway around 2am.