Buck30 - Other Trail Journal - 2026

MT 406 Trail - Day 41

It was windier than expected overnight and Heather didn't sleep very well
but the one good thing about my Dursten is that it's very big so in a
moderate wind I don't even notice it. We had an easy morning 5 miles of
quiet paved road to Fort Benton and the Missouri River! This ends what I
would call the 2nd big section of our hike. The first section was 320 miles
of all mountains. This 2nd section was 260 miles of alternating sky island
mountains and valleys. This upcoming 3rd section is 150 miles of paddling
on the Missouri River through the famous Missouri River Breaks National
Monument.

We were very lucky that Marty, the MT 406 creator generously dropped off a
canoe for us in Fort Benton with Tim who is associated with the MT 406
trail and lives here. And then in 150 miles of paddling we will drop the
canoe at a campground and Marty will come pick it back up. This is really
nice as I'm not sure we would have done this gem of a paddle without the
canoe offer. We could have rented a canoe and gear from a local outfitter
but it does seem expensive. Apparently this paddle is very popular with
guided trips.

First thing when we arrived in town we went to the gas station for soda and
breakfast, Heather got a breakfast sandwich and I got a giant frozen
burrito. Then we picked up a few things at the hardware store: a new gas
canister, a giant sponge for soaking up water in the canoe and garden type
gloves for the canoe to paddle with. We are basically just bringing our
backing gear and will be the most lightweight paddlers on the river for
sure. Most people bring the kitchen sink, almost literally, a large table,
chairs and a dutch oven is very common.

Then I got my tent from the post office and quickly pitched it and
determined that I think it does look a lot better than the one I have and
doesn't have nearly the wear/holes. The zippers don't seem to be doing that
great which isn't a big surprise so I might have to change those out which
can be a pain, but far better than leaking all over. After this we went to
the grocery and bought a weeks worth of food, we think it will take a
little less but it's easy to carry food with the canoe and we want the
flexibility with more bad weather coming up.

Then we met Tim at the boat ramp and he dropped off the canoe and we
chatted a bit. We also had 2 paddles, 2 life jackets and 2 nice big dry
bags. Plus we had carried 2 giant dry bags that Erik and Sarah gave us in
Highwood. These all turned out to be key as it was really nice to each drop
our backpack in a dry bag and then all of our food in another drybag and
then stuff we want more access to in a smaller dry bag. Perfect. Given we
don't have access to all the normal paddling gear I thought we might just
be using trash bags to prevent water splash/drips. It's extremely unlikely
we will capsize but having the dry bags will make life just a lot easier.
We also had an Amazon package delivered to Tim which had water shoes and
wag bags which are required (you poop in these!). Lastly I went over to the
local fast food place and brought back our final meal which was pretty good.

And the finally we launched! Tim had come back right in time to help us and
then took some great pictures of us on the water which was nice as we won't
have any from this kind of angle/distance. This is supposed to be a very
easy and beginner paddle. The river is usually very placid, the current in
this late season is 3-4 mph and it's not super wide or crazy deep. But of
course we are going to have terrible weather because we've had such bad
luck this year. Today's bad weather was a strong wind. Although it was from
the west so we had a tailwind for like 90% of the time which felt a little
scary to us but also really did help push us along.

On the one hand we did really good today. We covered 18 miles in 4 hours
with one short break. On the other hand it was a little disconcerting as
the strong wind can really bully and push you around. Usually it was fine
but occasionally it could broadside us and the canoe would kind of just
move sideways with little we could do. And then the water was really
shallow at times. We actually got stuck on gravel bars 3 times! I was
trying to be super conservative and not do something rash and catastrophic
so the first 2 times we spent time really trying to push back off with our
paddles and Heather stuck her feet out and pushed. It was not super easy
but worked. The third time I finally stood up, put one foot out and easily
walked us back to floating water and just got back in. So now we know
that's the easy way to do it. I assumed but was trying to be careful and
not get out and doing something stupid.

It was a really quaint and beautiful paddle and this isn't even the really
scenic part. I've actually been saying since the start of this hike that
this paddle will be amazing if the weather is nice. Sadly the weather is
not going to cooperate which is going to make this paddling so much worse.
But for now we are going to enjoy it the best we can.

We have a nice book for the river that Tim lent us and also a BLM river
guide PDF and then the public land layer on Caltopo all to figure out where
to camp. It seems really hard to just try and pick a public land section
and pull the canoe over and hope there is good camping in the trees or
brush so we decided to go to one of the marked primitive campsites (and
avoid the car accessible developed camp site a mile later). Of course
someone else had just arrived before us even though we had seen no one all
day. He didn't seem very happy we were there and even had the nerve to tell
us there was a nicer campground less than a mile away (this is exactly what
I would want to also tell someone but would never have the nerve). I was
like, don't worry about us, we will walk away into those trees and you'll
never see or hear us again. Which was true although the trees were in long
grasses so our camp spot wasn't that great although it was way less windy
just off the river where we went rather than the campsite where they
pitched their giant tent. And they have 2 dogs so they are actually the
annoying ones! But they were here first. But it's also a shared site.
Anyways, it all worked out. We both cowboy camped in the tall grasses and I
was more comfortable than usual doing it. I have to say, the river was a
lot of fun today, very exciting.

Oh, lastly a random item. I actually kayaked the entire Mississippi River
in 2012. You'd think I'd be a pro at this! But a canoe is really a
different beast and we've both really never paddled a canoe. And because
the winds are high and it's also going to rain, it just makes everything so
much harder. The kayak seemed far more stable to me and being much lower in
the water is better in high winds, although the winds on the Mississippi
were brutal at times and that trip was actually quite difficult. I
definitely don't feel like I had a clue reading the water today, but I was
doing this all the time on the Mississippi and I also had a very low water
year then too from the start to Minneapolis. Anyways, I feel like I did
apply some of what I learned in 2012 for now (like buying a giant sponge or
I did a really nice little backstroke to super turn us fast) but I also
felt like a complete rookie who was a little scared of being bullied by the
wind and water.

(It might be a bunch of days before I can send another journal, apparently
there's almost no reception on the river)

Entry 39 of 39
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