(Almost) Out of Montana!!!

“Lonely is the night when you find yourself alone
Your demons come to light and your mind is not your own”-(Boston’s own) Billy Squier

Checking in from Culbertson Montana, I stashed the canoe and hiked 2 miles into town for some pizza….here are the updates.  Hopefully my canoe is still on shore when I return.

July 4th

I continued to hang out at the Fort Peck Marina.  It was a scene you can imagine, July 4th at the marina.  My parents were boaters so being there on the 4th brought back sweet memories of my youth.  The owners of the marina allowed me to stay on their grounds and indicated they would help me with the portage around the dam tomorrow.  It was nice to be off Peck, and chill out for the rest of the day.  Hopefully, the portage goes smoothly….

Campsite at the marina..home sweet home

July 5th I slept in until about 8:30 and awoke to more craziness at the marina.  Fort Peck Marina is out of control although locals indicate next weekend will be full on nuts. It’s the Governor’s Cup which is a walleye fishing contest, I know I won’t be sticking around to take it all in.  I could not find the owners so I was concerned about the portage, one night at the marina is great….another night will be tiresome.  As I was sorting out my goodies, in walks another paddler, Mike Leuthe, who is canoeing from Twin Bridges to New Orleans.  I knew he was about a day behind me so I had been on the lookout for him.  It was great to interact with another paddler, we swapped “war” stories over lunch at the marina.  Since there was no sign of the owners, we decided to walk to the downstream campground, perhaps we could secure assistance there.  On our way (it was a nice hike), we ran into a youth baseball game in Fort Peck.  Yep, this means one thing-Nachos at the concession stand.  Check.  After relaxing for a bit we continued on to the campground where we ran into campground hosts Linda and Roger.  We shared our situation with them and they immediately reached out to a camper who helped portage our boats from the marina to the campground.  This was a huge relief.  I also let them know I needed to resupply so Roger was kind enough to drive us to Glascow to the local Albertson’s.  Not really the scene like the one I am accustomed to on Lemmon Ave (Dallas), but hey they had all the essentials.  Mike wanted to stay at the campground for a few days, I decided that I would head out tomorrow.  We spent the evening fighting off “troublesome” mosquitos and enjoying a few beers.

The walk to Fort Peck from the marina. I have Kuhl shorts.

July 6th Mike and I headed to the Fort Peck Interpretive Center.  Very impressive.  The dam has quite a history, and many workers perished during the construction.     After taking in the sites and organizing my gear (yes, I did shower) I was ready to launch.  Mike assisted me with getting the boat and gear back to the Missouri River and I was off around 3:00.  It was enjoyable spending a day with Mike, he paddled the entire Mississippi back in 2002.  This stretch I am heading into is also remote, additionally I will be heading into Indian reservation territory.  The most memorable part of the trip today was I reached the Milk and Missouri confluence.  It is strange, the river takes on part of the Milk’s attributes, so half the river is milky and the other half has the Missouri’s characteristics.  I saw just a few people on shore today, I finally pulled off around 7:30 and found a nice campsite.  I had “good” food options since I had just resupplied and had a cooler with ice and sodas…almost heavenly but not quite.

Mike at the campground

Getting ready to head out..again. Mike let me use his portage wheels-nice!!

Note the Milk “river” on the left and the Missouri on the right

July 7th I woke to rain. I didn’t want to get out of my tent until it stopped so I hung out until about 8:00.  I really wanted to make about 40-50 miles today but around noon the wind picked up.  I mean, it really picked up.  All of the sudden, winds were around 30mph and I had to hang out on river right.  I spent 1 hour, 2 hours, 5 hours there and the wind was still crazy.  The site was a good site, I could hike up to the bluffs and hang out in the shade…the downside is that clearly this was cattle country.  I had to get out, no camping here tonight, frankly I prefer not to sleep with cows.  I had hoped the wind would subside, it didn’t.  I had to get out in the river and make it far enough to a more suitable campsite…boy it was tough.  I basically got on my knees in the canoe and paddled as hard as I could right into a 25mph head wind…the river was white capping..it almost felt Fort Peckesque. I made it around the bend and found a really nice site where I settled in for the evening.  The winds finally abated around 7:30.  I must make distance tomorrow.

Campsite morning

The Bluff, cow country

It’s windy

July 8th I awoke to calm winds and sunny skies, maybe summer is settling in here in Eastern Montana.  I paddled from 6:00am until about 6:00pm with about an hour break.  I made 50 miles, it felt like a productive day.  I passed Wolf Point and Poplar, two communities on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.  Hopefully, I can finally depart Montana by week’s end, seems possible now.

Wolf Point Bridge

Entering Poplar

The Vessel

July 9th Wow…2 nice days in a row.  I wasn’t feeling my A game today, I was somewhat sluggish in the morning and didn’t break camp until about 8:00.  The first 3+ hours were tough…I was really fighting it today.  I had a headache, my rump hurt, I frankly wasn’t feelin’ it.  I took an extended lunch and my disposition improved.  I humped it to try to make it close to Culbertson, although I fell short by about 10 miles.  I found a marginal campsite…unless you like trains.  Boy, those things get loud!!  I will try to stash the boat tomorrow and walk in to Culbertson…I can almost smell the pizza.

I had to go…it’s a foam turd

Still cool

Nice hill on the way to the big C.

July 10th I awoke to rain..and I didn’t arrange my ground tarp correctly so water was in my tent…ugh.  I threw everything into the boat (I’ll dry my stuff later) and headed to Culbertson.  I found a nice path that leads into town on river left.  The skies cleared and I sweated out a 2+ mile walk into town.  I will get some more goods and head back out…anyway I am currently at Me Too Pizza…not bad, particularly considering I have been eating canned foods the past 4 nights.  I spoke with a gas station attendant and shared my story with him…he indicated it isn’t possible to canoe from Montana to Dallas.  He may be right-we’ll see.  Stay tuned for more updates…I have read all the comments and I appreciate them more than you can imagine.  I will respond when I can, thank you for your patience.

The walk into Culbertson

A big thank you to my wife, she has been really supportive and trust me, this sounds like a great adventure (which it is) but there are sacrifices and I can’t put into words how great she has been.  If anyone can fix the gas leaks in my neighborhood please follow up with her!!