Interested in kayaking portions of the routes of Lewis and Clarke

[Kcolsen11]

A friend and myself are interested in kayaking portions of the Lexi’s and Clark water trails this summer was looking at several areas one was the Jefferson water trail. Saw a post where you can’t drink the water or filter it because of fertilizer runoff. Has anyone have a trip on any of these area and suggest a put in take out location. We would like a trip of 4 or 5 days. We are older so like the class 1 or 2 rivers just want good scenery. Any suggestions would be appreciated Thanks in advance

 

[ppine]

I have made the run from Ft Benton to Kipp Bridge which is 151 miles. Great scenery, no people the last 4 days, lots of wildlife, historic camp sites and old homesteads. Steady current but no serious rapids at moderate flows. High flows in spring, hot temperatures possible in summer. Fall is the prime time to go. We camped in several Lewis and Clark campsites and read out of the journal every night. One of the great trips. We took a week to make the run.

 

[Kcolsen11]

I have made the run from Ft Benton to Kipp Bridge which is 151 miles. Great scenery, no people the last 4 days, lots of wildlife, historic camp sites and old homesteads. Steady current but no serious rapids at moderate flows. High flows in spring, hot temperatures possible in summer. Fall is the prime time to go. We camped in several Lewis and Clark campsites and read out of the journal every night. One of the great trips. We took a week to make the run.

Great help I read where you. Can’t drink the water even if you filter it is that right

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I have made the run from Ft Benton to Kipp Bridge which is 151 miles. Great scenery, no people the last 4 days, lots of wildlife, historic camp sites and old homesteads. Steady current but no serious rapids at moderate flows. High flows in spring, hot temperatures possible in summer. Fall is the prime time to go. We camped in several Lewis and Clark campsites and read out of the journal every night. One of the great trips. We took a week to make the run.

Ppine, how many days did that trip take?

 

[ppine]

Kcosen11.
We drank the water. We settled out the sediment first. We found a few places with clear side streams and one BLM field station that had water.

Steve,
We planned for 7 days on the water. The weather was amazingly hot. 114 degrees at the local BLM field station. We paddled 36 miles the last day and made it in 6 days. Fresh food and ice started to sound really good. I would not go in July or August.

 

[Bentpushrod]

I’ve also done the Missouri, 110 miles worth. Put in at Coal Banks, and took out at James Kipp. The trip took 5 days. We did it in May. Saw very few people, was a nice trip. I’ve taken two trips on the lower Yellowstone, both times put in at Intake, and taken out at the confluence of the Missouri about 75 miles. Our first trip on the Yellowstone, we filtered water, the second trip we brought all of our water with us. Both rivers are full of silt. You need to use alum to get the silt to settle, then filter.

We may run the Jefferson river this summer.