17APRIL2016 near Rosebud, MT

The day started with ice and ended with a bedbug (or something ... vermin anyway).  Throwing off the covers I emerged from Zane's camper feeling refreshed ... and thankful for not only a great night's sleep but also for being able to get back on the river without the delay of breaking down a tent.  So everything was icy ... even a puddle on the way to the canoe.  At the canoe I was quick to secure the gear and get underway.  My paddle was encrusted in ice ... and me without gloves.  Ay-yi-yi it burns to grab that thing and get going.  The sun was four fingers high when I pushed off but it was my first view of it.  Throughout the day the sun appeared through thin clouds then disappeared for extensive periods ... for over half the day it was totally obscured.  As cold as it was there was very little wind until afternoon and of course, the temperature climbed steadily as the day went on.  Wind got serious after noon and in the final two miles I paddled backward rather than attempt to keep the front end in any particular direction.  Early on I saw twenty whitetail deer and through the day I saw pelicans, bald eagles, osprey, geese, ducks and a coyote.  On one other occasion I again saw several deer.  The river continues to grow so the current continues to be benevolent ... and that is evermore fun.  Rosebud is a beautiful little town.  It hugs the river and compliments the river.  It's on a 20-foot bank and is Rockwellian.  Three ladders help the citizens down the bank for fishing, strolling, sitting, coffeeing, rock skipping.  Atop the bank are a couple of coffee-and-view tables.  There is also a unique sign - UGGA BUGGA - painted across a red garage-sized building.  Yep, there is a story there.  At 1PM I pulled in and stretched at Mike Whacker's ranch.  Some people you just immediately like and that is Mike Whacker.  His device told us to not expect rain until 5PM ... and his machine was right.  Only double-digit yards above the Miles City water intake is a side channel and an easy place to park a craft ... which I did.  I slid it over drift logs and completely out of the water, climbed the steep bank and hoofed into Miles City.  The Olive Hotel - stayed there many times in the 1980s - welcomed me and in short order I had dined (yes, first) then bathed.  Bathed, not showered.  A cold day on the river ... phiwh ... soaking does best and soak I did.  Totally naked I stretched out under the sheets ... all who know a cold day on the river understand that, too.  It was maybe ten minutes when I rearranged myself and saw the bug.  Sure that it was a tick I could not catch it ... it's not a tick.  I caught it, looked at it and wondered "Is this a bedbug?"  It looks like the internet pictures.  I affixed it to a sticky part of a note pad, wrote my name, room number and date on it and delivered it to the desk personnel.  They assigned me a different room in a different building.  Bedbug?  Well, it was a bug in a bed anyway.  My stiff shoulder and the rest of me welcomed sleep.

16APRIL2016 @ Forsyth, MT

It's a good half-day to watch rain, arrange gear, buy some better garbage bags and be assured that all internet communications are completed.  It's chilly, maybe even cold ... but that's what clothes are for so really no problem.  At noon the canoe had been rolled the final two blocks to the river and all my gear was alongside.  I took longer than normal packing the canoe, consolidating stuff that was separated and getting the heavier stuff more up front.  Eventually I pushed off and was met with corn snow, getting everything a mite wetted.  It was 100% cloudy and I was facing a headwind ... though not a strong one.  An extra 500 cfs every day is starting to be felt as even with a head wind the canoe moves along quite well.  I paddle, but the real downstream impetus is the current.  Should the daily cfs rise continue I will soon be moving along very swiftly.  The extra water makes the river travel much easier in another way, that being that the rocks are more and more covered; should one not be seen the possibility that it will catch the canoe is lessened.  As the hours passed the clouds thinned and the sun was bright, though not very warm.  After only about three hours I got out near Rosebud, met Zane Montgomery and was offered his camper trailer for the night.  As great as my tent is, a camper trailer is super appreciated.  I rummaged around his out buildings, found a well-watered book of short stories, turned on the light, set the space heater on "Pilot Light", got under the covers and read a bit.  Later I woke up and turned out the light.  It's cold out there.     

15APRIL2016 @ Forsyth, MT

Wake up and get breakfast ... nothing amazing about that.  I don't want amazing, I want boring today.  At 1000 I walked to the West Rosebud boat ramp, strapped on the wheels and rolled the canoe down Park Street.  The canoe was left aside a house near the boat ramp below the dam.  By mid afternoon I had concluded another attempt to set up the SPOT locator.  I was assured (by SPOT) that it is indeed working ... so tomorrow we will ascertain the verity of that.  Buying duct tape, mailing a letter and being boring ... great day.  Oh yes ... weather was sketchy.

14APRIL2016 near Forsyth, MT

Despite setting up wet, I slept well, warm and dry.  I was up later than on other days, watching the sun burst over the hills as I was breaking camp.  Thinking that I had a very short distance into Forsyth, I paddled dismissively, enjoying the current and expecting to see the bridge at every turn.  What wind there was was a benign head wind and I could drift on without paddling at all.  Even as the wind speed increased I could drift ... neverthemore, I paddled.  I went ashore at a distance sign situated at Rum's point.  Distances to Cancun, Jamaica, Bora Bora, Bermuda as well as Forsyth (8 Miles) was adequately informative.  Paddling on I had a good feel for how many river bends I was facing and came ashore at the West Rosebud boat ramp at 1100.  Along the way I twice saw some Whitetail deer.  This SHOULD not be newsy, but those are the first deer seen since I left Columbus last Friday.  Bald eagles, ducks, geese and herons were also seen.  Herons are incredible.  They are a big lump with protruding sticks ... that fly.  At the extreme top of hundred foot cottonwood trees, they build nests that appear to come from a Dr. Seuss book and they drift in and plop down on them.  There may be 30 nests in a rookery yet at any one time only one or two herons will be in flight ... the others quite happy to sit and look.  Several days back I saw one flying along with a snake; I now know that one function of those long beaks is to reach under a ledge to snag a groggy snake.  Walking in to Forsyth I went to the Howdy Hotel and spent $63 for two nights.  To enter, one passes across a mosaic made with 1" ceramic squares ... aqua with "1905" mosaicked in black.  This Hotel is perfect ... not just price, but it has maybe 25 rooms on the second floor and that again on he third.  Twelve foot ceilings.  It's old and it's in good shape.  I will be here again.  The bartender lent her Jeep, tossed the keys to a driver and sent us out to shag my gear.  We did that then went to view the dam.  I decided that I would not paddle that dam - it's spooky.  Moreover, the approach side-channel has vertical sides making a short lift-and-drag portage problematic.  The decision to portage down the streets was easy and I was driven to a tire business for some air.  The lady running the desk was wearing a T-shirt with familiar words ... I inquired ... and surely enough I had been swimming and sushiing with her aunt in Maui and had attended her grandaunt's funeral in Helena.  Small state population ... you gotta love it.  I got back to the Howdy in plenty of time to avoid and enjoy the intense rain ... it's good to be inside. "Men in Black" (#3?) on TV put me to sleep.

13APRIL2016 near Custer, MT

As with yesterday my first view of the sun was a reflected view ... this time the side of the BNSF railroad track, a glowing brown stripe.  Shortly after I saw the sun, and when it was only one-finger high, I passed the Bighorn River.  One thinks of rivers cascading together but such is not the case.  The Bighorn is basically as large as the Yellowstone, yet when they combine all is smooth and calm.  So the two rivers and I smoothed along for several more miles when - without warning - I came to the Rancher's Ditch irrigation diversion dam.  I went ashore and viewed a bank-to-bank dam with fumeroles everywhere and with downstream rocks strewn across the left half.  Though the flow seemed lighter on the left, the rocks told me "No".  In the right half is a 20-foot-wide chute ... smooth approach, a smooth double dip across the dam and flow lines all proceeding straight downstream.  It being either portage or shoot, I chose shoot, positioned my craft and hit he spot with as much speed as I could attain.  Well ... my butt bumped and I took in about a gallon - but sure enough, the flow lines quickly sent me clear and on my way.  There is a 3-second period of extreme exhilaration when you realize that you cannot go back and you look over the crest and you are actually in the throes of the water force ... a short period when your success or failure is no longer something that you control.  An early morning wake-up for real.  So-o-o-o later in he day I passed over another dam (Called the Yellowstone dam), taking it 30 feet from the left across a roll less severe than most of the river rapids I've encountered.  Expecting bad weather, I was pleased to have a tailwind all day.  Paddling through Oxbows, the wind was alternately a side wind but overall was a travel boost ... and twice the wind speed got super fast.  On one of those occasions it was so bad that I went ashore and walked around.  Still windy - but controllable - I proceeded at a good clip and saw the Yellowstone River's namecliff.  On the north near Savage I steered past ten or so miles of yellow cliff ... 60 feet high and straight east.  Native Americans named the river ... and sure, the yellow geyser rocks at Yellowstone National Park may contribute to the name ... but theses cliffs scream Yellowstone, and scream in an area where the river is big, where the river is actually worthy of the name "RIVER".  You need to see these cliffs ... fascinating.  While among those cliffs the wind picked up again and drove me on.  Not knowing my precise location I thought I could be blown into Forsyth, but chose a campsite.  Setting up camp I was dismayed that the tent was soaked and dripping wet, part of that gallon taken in at the dam.  I actually mopped out the floor.  Whew!  Had I delayed some more the setup would have happened too late for much drying to be done.  Sleep was good ... I got lucky.  During the day I saw a pair of coyotes, ducks, geese, bald eagles, osprey and herons.    

12APRIL2016 @ Huntley, MT

Today my first indication of sunrise was seeing the sunlight reflected from the light underside of the Canadian Geese flying overhead.  That set the tone for a great day ... one of the best I've ever known.  The current was smooth, the wind was light and over my shoulder, the temperature was in the 60s and the river was gorgeous.  Even the river banks were pretty.  No ... all river banks are NOT pretty, but for the entire day I saw zero discarded bottles ... zero Styrofoam anything ... zero aluminum cans.  Yellowstone County folks treat the river right.  There ARE concrete chunks used as rip-rap and old brown iron can be seen but none of the discarded items are new ... even the concrete chunks show meaningful water rounding.  I saw turkeys, one coyote, bald eagles, osprey, marmots as well as ducks and geese.  Almost every duck is a mallard, the most beautiful duck extant.  I was surprised to pass Pompey's Pillar in the morning, not knowing that it is close to Billings.  My first river view of it was awesome and felt somewhat similar to my first view of the leaning tower in Pisa.  Later I came to the Waco dam.  It was as uneventful as the Huntley dam and for the same reason ... it had a bypass channel.  I love those bypass channels.  As day was waning I found a farmer's irrigation equipment and spread my tarp over it, staked down the edge and had a very pleasant bed.  Sleep found me hearing both trains and the river gurgle.  With no roads to intersect, the train sound was just the pleasant rumble.

11APRIL2016 near Billings, MT

The sunrise awakened me and I was on the water about as fast as one can stuff two sleeping bags, strike and fold a tent, clean the site and get it all in the canoe.  I did not see Mr. Bell ... he being energetic I was a mite surprised by that.  The river to Billings was noneventful other than the increasing amount of people evidence.  Maybe two miles above town, though, the river changed to a river-wide rapid.  Being river-wide it was universally paddleable ... and yet there it was, speedy, choppy, alert-intensive.  That lasted for over half a mile and was fun.  After that the Billings Sandstone cliffs began ... and all through town the river was strewn with cliff-fallers.  Again, it was fun and required being alert.  With no wind I was able to steer as I wished and pretty soon Billings was fading away.  Various wastewater discharges were seen in and near Billings.  Having worked the Billings wastewater scene in the 1970s, I can attest that it is improved.  At the Huntley Dam I got a present courtesy of the irrigation crew.  They directed me north to a side channel which flowed around the dam.  Amazing ... and wonderful.  I arrived at Cowboys Restaurant (Huntley) at about 3PM.  Cowboys is right on the river and has a large grassy back yard.  My kind of place.  As I prepare for bed I recall seeing geese, ducks, marmots (lots of marmots) and lots of fish breaking the river's surface.