Missouri River by Canoe

A unique 6-day guided canoe trip in scenic Montana

Story by Sandra Leinweber • Photos by Chuck Leinweber

The Missouri River travels more than 2300 miles before it joins the Mississippi River at Saint Louis. The river begins near Three Forks, Montana where the Jefferson, the Madison and the Gallatin rivers all join to form the Missouri. About 300 miles downstream from the source,  the spectacular 149 mile Missouri River Breaks begins, an area with few roads or bridges and no towns at all.

We have kayaked on a bunch of rivers and lakes over the years. How do these trips come to be?

On one road trip, we crossed the Glen Canyon dam, looked down at the water and decided we needed to spend some time on Lake Powell, which turned into annual trips for about 10-plus years. Same with the Rio Grande—visited Big Bend, saw the river, happened to know a guy who organized trips down the river and c’est la vie.  Many wonderful adventures later, we lucked into a trip on the San Juan in Utah, a fast river with amazing canyons and fun rapids. Texas has a number of rivers that are great for day trips as well.

We visited Fort Benton, Montana over a year ago and stayed in the restored Grand Union Hotel which is located right on the Missouri river. We started researching guided river trips and found the Missouri River Outfitters. And even though we typically do solo trips or with a group of like-minded paddlers, Chuck thought it would be nice to take a guided trip where most of the gear is provided, including meals and scheduling. The Missouri River Outfitters have a full late spring and summer schedule of trips of different lengths, 3, 4 and 6 days, as well as trips on the Marias River, a tributary of the Missouri. The longer the trip, the more it costs. We did a 6 day trip (about 107 river miles), which this summer was $1600 each, plus tips for the 2 guides. 

The evening before the trip began, we and three other couples met with Nicolle (the owner of MRO), and our two guides, Heather and Isaac, who are sister and brother.  Each of us got 2 dry bags, one of them a bit larger for a camp bag, and a slightly smaller day bag for gear we might need during the time on the river each day. They provide a list ahead of time with both required (rain gear) (and yes, we needed it one night) and suggested clothing, and all the other stuff like hats, sunscreen, bug spray, headlamps, etc. The large dry bag came preloaded with a 20-degree sleeping bag and a small pillow. After a good night’s sleep, and a tasty breakfast at the WAKE CUP cafe, we headed to the MRO headquarters to load up. There was  lots of gear and food and drinks to be loaded in the truck. Our van, with the three other couples plus us, pulled the trailer with the 5 canoes.

At the put-in, near Coal Banks Landing, the canoes were loaded, and we climbed in and took off. It was windy—wind from the back switching to wind from the front— challenging us. The Missouri is not a fast river, maybe 2, 2.5 miles per hour. Fortunately, we only had 7 or 8 miles to cover before lunch, and soon we stopped to eat. I have no memory of what we had for lunch, but rest assured every meal was wonderful (more details later). Wait, I did write it down—curried chicken on fresh lettuce leaves! I was still adjusting to the idea of being in the same boat with Chuck, something I’d vowed to never do again, but he had been good. I was in the front, paddling, Chuck in the back, paddling and steering, which the wind made a bit tricky.  We were a team.

The wind continued. It is a river after all.  A wild and scenic river.

Seven to ten miles later, the first camp was a welcome site. All of the gear had to be unloaded and carried up the bank—the kitchen gear, the 5 or 6 heavy ice chests with food and drink, the water,  the tents, the cots, the camp chairs, and the dry bags. After the first day this became something of a routine, and we all helped. Our guides were happy to set-up the tents and cots, but once we saw the way things went together, we all tried to do as much of our own tent and cot set-up as possible, which allowed our guides to get on with dinner! (Which always included a great appetizer). The tents were nice—solid and rainproof with room for two cots and our dry bags.  Dinner was green salad, tender pulled pork and savory mac and cheese, yum!

Wind was still a factor, so no fire. Good to just sit in a circle and visit and get to know one another.

The White Cliffs were beginning to appear, and as Merriwether Lewis noted on his famous exploratory voyage: (sic)

“The bluffs of the river rise to the hight of from 2 to 300 feet and in most places nearly perpendicular; they are formed of remarkable white sandstone which is sufficiently soft to give way readily to the impression of water; two or thre thin horizontal stratas of white free-stone, on which the rains or water make no impression, lie imbeded in these clifts of soft stone near the upper part of them; the earthon the top of these Clifts is a dark rich loam, which forming a graduly ascending plain extends back from ½ a mile to a mile where the hills commence and rise abruptly to a hight of about 300 feet more. The water in the course of time in decending from those hills and plains on either side of the river has trickled down the soft sand clifts and woarn it into a thousand grotesque figures”. 

Taken by the seeming architectural quality of the natural rock formations, he wrote that “nature presents to the view of the traveler vast ranges of walls of tolerable workmanship, so perfect indeed are those walls that I should have thought that nature had attempted here to rival the human art of masonry had I not recollected that she had first began her work.”

Yes, to all of it,—they are a wonder and it was nice that our trip was slow enough we could just enjoy them!  Many wonderful photos are posted online and on the Missouri River Outfitters site.

Days 2 and 3 fell into a routine. Mornings were unhurried. Breakfast came first, (pancakes and sausage with chokecherry syrup, coffee)  (eggs, hash browns, cheese, hot sauce), take down camp, carry everything down to the boats which have been stacked upside down for the night. Load all the gear more or less equally boat to boat, climb in and paddle away—typically about 9:30am. A midmorning stop, often a short hike—Once to see the teepee circles higher up above the river and the cottonwood trees, placed so native Americans could escape the insects down by the river, another hike to see the petroglyph of a horse carved on the side of a bluff. The next day was slot canyon hike day. The canyon starts out wide, and then twists and turns, becoming narrower. A large boulder had fallen into the thinnest part and required a climb over or a slither under. The toughest climb on the trip was to the Hole in the Rock, and while I did not make that one, everyone said it was perfect. They could easily stand up inside the hole!

Often, one of our guides read a selection from the books they brought along—mostly the history of the part of the river we were on. Stories of homesteaders and entrepreneurs, tales of hardship and success. A bit of Lewis and Clark, all fascinating.  At noon or thereabouts, we’d stop for lunch, a rest, then back in the canoes.  A typical day was 15 to 20 miles. 

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A list of some of the food we enjoyed.

Breakfast:  Pancakes and sausage with chokecherry syrup. Scrambled eggs with peppers, onions and gouda with hashbrowns, bagels and lox with cream cheese,  corned beef hash with eggs over easy, stuffed french toast and sausage and eggs. 

Lunch:  Dinner leftovers (always good!!) plus bread, tortillas and lunchmeat and cheese, Fruit and cookies.

Dinner:  Steak, garbanzo bean salad, kale,  pulled pork, green salad, mac and cheese, Ahi tuna steaks (I now know to cook them RARE), farro salad. Pita bread with meatballs, lentils and vegetable, cucumber salad. Lamb chops with sides

Appetizers:  Ritz crackers, brie plus grapes and cherries,  hummus with celery and peppers,  cherry tomatoes in balsamic vinegar with basil on bruschetta (ruined my dinner on that one, just kept going back for more), red and yellow peppers stuffed with cream cheese.

Always cookies and different cakes (lemon, carrot, chocolate) that usually came back out at breakfast. You get the idea!

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Did I mention eagles? One pair of Bald Eagles sat on the bluff across the river, maybe watching us, who knows. Another pair fished the river as we paddled. We caught a brief glimpse of a big horned sheep coming down the cliffs to the river for water.  There were ducks and geese, ospreys, and Golden Eagles as well.  

Day four, at Judith Basin we stopped for lunch and the resupply—all of our giant coolers were replaced with new ones filled with fresh new food, new drinks (water, sparkling water, beer in cans, and box wine), and anything else we might have depleted. One couple left, having only booked a 3.5 day trip, and another joined us for the second half of the trip. After lunch, we are back on the river.

A brief stop at what Heather called a coulee to look for iron rich and thus heavy concretions that pop out of the banks of the wash. I Found a perfectly round one.  Mine was small, maybe an inch in diameter, but they can be larger. The river has washed all sorts of rocks down, and you never know what you will find—water tumbled petrified wood, quartz, granite, etc. Some of the rocks were perfect for skipping, and Isaac, one of our guides, was clearly the champion.

It rained that evening and dinner was a wet affair. It mostly cleared by morning, but the need for rain gear established. That was our only wet night. 

Day 5 we stopped to see a homestead, now abandoned, the cabin mostly empty but for some falling apart furnishings. Heather read the story of the couple and the requirements they faced to “prove” the intent to homestead and claim the land. To qualify, a certain number of acres had to be cleared and successfully planted, all within a specific time frame. Husband and wife apparently separated and he built another cabin some ways away. Much of the land along the river is now private, and we could only hike where it was BLM or part of the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River.  

It occurs to me that having lived in the mountains of Montana for 10 years, we might just have some perspective on the demands of the homesteaders, not that we tried to homestead, but just having lived in a cabin with only-sometimes-running water or electricity for most of the 10 years.

Day 6, our last full day on the river.  The wind is back, but not too fierce. As usual, a mention of a rapid ahead, but really, there were no rapids, just a short stretch of slightly faster water and perhaps a rock poking above the surface. It is basically a calm river during this almost fall time of year—I am guessing spring would bring a bit higher and faster water, but the dams at Great Falls keep things more or less under control. We heard stories of canoes turning over (one could just stand up in most of the river), but our boats were solid and heavy with gear, and always stable.

Our last evening, Heather produced a surprise from the food cooler. Hot dogs and marshmallows. Chet, one of our group, had told us about his idea for a special combination of those two ingredients, and Heather asked that they be included in the restock, so the experiment began. Chet got some willow sticks ready, the hot dogs were impaled and roasted over  the fire. Two marshmallows were added to the end of the stick, and carefully roasted. Then one took a piece of foil, circled the marshmallows, and slid them down over and around the hot dog. Sticky, but surprisingly good! Sweet and salty. He is hoping to patent the idea, we shall see.

Day seven, Our last morning, we were to meet the vans at the James Kipp landing.  We only had about 7 miles of river to run, and we got off a bit early, so took our time and just enjoyed the nice day.

The takeout was smooth, lunch awaited us, and we were soon on the road back to Fort Benton for thank yous and goodbyes, and exchanging emails. Then it was off to Missoula to visit our daughter and her family.

We can highly recommend the trip, and Missouri River Outfitters are the best! •SCA•

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Recommended Reading

Floating the Missouri by James Willard Shultz 

My Life as an Indian by James Willard Shultz 

The Last Best Place Montana Anthology

Montana Magazine and or articles produced by Keith Edgerton. 

Magnificent Journey—a geological journey through the upper Missouri River breaks.