Edited by slickhorn - 24 Mar 2008 at 11:31am

maybe that's why my google searches for the book never turn up. 

I know where Montana is!  It's near South Dakota, which is not nearly as close to pakistan as idahoans seem to think ...  lol my bad

I've read that before, what a ballsy first d.  There's an excerpt in Montana Surf, but the full write-up I read was either an online version from the AW magazine archives or it was in a book Chouinard wrote.  I'll try to confirm later.

A relative of mine wrote this in American Whitewater about his attempt at a first descent on this part of the river.

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Journal_show-page_issue_1_year_1977_page_28_

Well, since the ClarkS Fork of the Yellowstone  STILL ranks as my favorite run ON THIS PLANET, I simply can't help but weigh in. When I was there living in Bozeman in the 90's those of us paddling the Box were quite careful and specific to annunciate the "S" in "ClarkS Fork of the Yellowstone", to distinguish it from Missoula's "Clark Fork" river.

That, as has been stated, is how each blue line is named on the maps. The ultimate authority, I think it's fair to say. The box is basicly a Wyoming run, accessed through Montana and the Sunlight Basin.

Please allow me to wax poetic, as never had my aerated eyes beheld such beauty in all of its granite bound, emerald, diamond encrusted, terrible splendor!

Giant handholds to assist Paul Bunion
Take care lest even he
Cut his hand upon the sheared  fragments
high above HER muscular ribbons!

Higher still
In the forest where mortal men
must labor to continue their downstream progress
avoiding the den
of the Green Monster
Juicy dragonfly panic stricken
writhes in thin air
the invisible trap realized too late
within  the swift opportunity of the spider's preparation

Back down to the boulder strewn riverbank
And into her voluptuous embrace
the power of a hundred oxen
the gravitas of a dozen tragedies
the constriction of Kali's thighs
the sparkle of a thousand diamonds
in clouds of water illuminated
by rare shafts of sunshine
adorned with rainbows
made brighter still by corridors
of cold darkness
sensuous curves of her secret habitat
eclipse her emerald depths

There are trap doors to other worlds
underwater tunnels
Charon himself would fear to navigate
Rooms and Chambers
That reduce the bravest of men to crying infants
deceptive passages that seduce young daredevils
only to dash their skulls

O.k. Sorrry  I can't help but get carried away. Suffice to say I've seen a LOT of shit go down in there for the few runs I made there. several harrowing rescues, a few nasty injuries, and a couple of bonafied near death situations.

I'm sure there's a lot more people running it these days. If you haven't been and want to go, don't take it lightly. Only go with someone who's truly intimate with the Box, and you really want every link in the chain (group wise) to be solid. Too big of group can really fuck you in there too.
Having said that, it's pretty magnificent, and the whitewater is high quality if you run it when it's got some push. I never felt that the mankier water levels were appropriate to really enjoy the run. You want some frothy power.





Edited by wetmouse - 27 Mar 2008 at 7:42pm

nice words jp.  thanks for sharing.