Im looking for a place to paddle next summer in the northwest(Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, Idaho.) My friends and i are looking for an easy to moderate overnight or weekend float with a lot of scenery and places to camp. Any suggestions? Thanks!
float? i.e no paddle power???
If you want to float:
Well the Upper Missouri through the White Cliffs National Monunment in Montana is awesome…its what remains of the missouri today as it looked when lew and clark paddled it. A good paddletrip too if you dont want to float.
The Yellowstone River from vaious put-in from Gardner (white water) all the way to the ND border… 700 miles…longest un damed river in the US. Plenty of short floats too obsiously. Livingston to Big Timber…nice braded river, island to camp, bird life, deer etc.
Upper Snake from Jackson Lake dam to the town of Jackson. You will have to make it past Moran the first day to camp since you cant camp in Teton National Park. Probably the most scenic float/paddle
Oregon Canoeing
In Oregon I would recommend the John Day River upper section for class I-II. This is eastern Oregon so it is really dry but spectacular scenery.
The Grande Ronde River in NE Oregon is a great trip as well and a little faster. A lot of the rivers in Oregon can be difficult to plan because they are free flowing like the John Day.
If you can get a copy of the Soggy Sneakers book, they have really good descriptions and they update it.
Doug
Come To WA
If you come to WA, there are many state parks on the water you can camp at and kayak from. There are also some islands in the Puget Sound that you can camp on, like Hope Island by Olympia (southern end of the Sound). We have some great kayaking if you can move one state over.
We’ve got it all, rivers, lakes, the Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean.
-Capri
Try the Flathead (MT)
Beautiful lakes in Glacier Park and Hungry Horse Has lost of places to get away from it all.
We had elk almost in camp a couple of weeks ago. (night)