Rafting on the Flathead River near Hungry Horse, UT

Wayne

Administrator
Staff member
When we visited the Kalispell and Glacier NP area, we were lucky enough to have relatives who live there and took us on a rafting trip down the Flathead River.

We put in the river at a private access near the BNSF rail bridge and got out about 2 miles downstream at a pubic access. The current is fairly strong, so it probably only took a couple hours and we spend some time on a gravel bar.


When we got to the river it was the first time we had been close enough to it to see into the water. I stood there for several minutes staring at the rocks on the bottom of the river. I have never seen anything like it, the water is so clear, unlike any river I've ever seen, and the rocks ranged in size from a softball to a beach ball and were multicolored. Unfortunately, the phone camera and lens did the rocks no justice. You need to go see it for yourself! It was beautiful and looked staged.


We even got to see a train cross the bridge, for you rail fans.


Shandy spent most of her time standing on the edge of the raft wanting to jump into the water. She seemed to be memorized by the rocks as well.


You can see from these pictures how clear the water is and how beautiful the area is.






For you cloud watchers, this is one of the largest standing lenticulars I have ever seen. It was probably at least 20 miles away over the top of the mountains in the national park.

 
I probably would of freaked out seeing that train above me. 😆. We have a road here that runs under a bridge with a train track on it and I freak out every time their is a train on it because I’m always scared it will de-rail. I guess I’m just paranoid but I guess I’d also rather be on the ground vs in the train too because I don’t like heights.
 
Wow amazing pics! Water in some places looks too shallow for a kayak. With the rocks, I bet a raft does better
 
Wow amazing pics! Water in some places looks too shallow for a kayak. With the rocks, I bet a raft does better
It looks shallow because it's so clear. We only touched bottom when we stopped at the gravel bar.
 
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