Clark Fork Yellowstone Box
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Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6485
Printed Date: 27 Oct 2025 at 2:03am
Topic: Clark Fork Yellowstone Box
Posted By: slickhorn
Subject: Clark Fork Yellowstone Box
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 11:15am
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Great new TR on Rackley of the Clark Fork Box.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23638979/ Does anyone know the title of the piece Yvonne Chiounard wrote about the first D of this run? Always wanted to read it, never been able to find it ... |
Replies:
Posted By: cronar
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 11:25am
Hey Brian, the Clarks Fork doesn't have a Box section. The Clark Fork of the Yellowstone, however does. There's a few hundred miles and a continental divide separating the two. Next I'm going to ask you to point out Montana on a map.![]("smileys/smiley2.gif") -N |
Posted By: slickhorn
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 11:30am
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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 ------------- |
Posted By: toddg
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 11:49am
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Originally posted by cronar Hey Brian, the Clarks Fork doesn't have a Box section. The Clark Fork of the Yellowstone, however does. There's a few hundred miles and a continental divide separating the two. Next I'm going to ask you to point out Montana on a map. -N actually, you are wrong. there are two rivers -- both spending part of their time in MT & both named after william clark of lewis/clark fame -- that are commonly confused: 1. the clark fork river (no "s"), a relatively flat river which flows nw thru missoula & into idaho; 2. the clark's fork of the yellowstone (with a possessive "s", & usually referred to as simply the clarks fork), which flows south, then east, then north off the beartooth plateau, outta cooke city, past cody & up toward billings. it would be incorrect to refer to this river as either "the clark fork" or "the clark fork of the yellowstone". so, brian was in fact referring to the correct river that is home to the box canyon, the best whitewater in the rockies. |
Posted By: PowWrangler
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 11:52am
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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. |
Posted By: cronar
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 12:31pm
Todd, while I appreciate your opinion, I being a native of MT we referred to the Clark Fork through Missoula as the Clarks Fork (notice no possesion) and the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone as the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone. We also call the Absorka mountains near there the Absorkee mountains. So while Brian may have in fact stated as out of staters do, I put it as the local population does and in the dialect of how I grew up. Perhaps a parenthetical would have been in order in this case. So I'll go with both being right. ![]("smileys/smiley33.gif") But I think we can all agree it's some stout water in The Box.-N |
Posted By: spilly
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 2:08pm
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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_ ------------- Sarah |
Posted By: toddg
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2008 at 2:11pm
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Fair enough dude, I'll defer to your local nomenclature knowledge .. but .. in the interest of healthy interweb debating & wasting some more valuable work time, consider ... Anyone I've ever paddled that river with call it the Clarks Fork. My friends in Cody, Red Lodge, Billings & Bozeman all call it the Clarks Fork... These dudes are the local population. It's listed as the Clark's Fork on AW & by the USGS. And in the MT guidebook (written by Montanans). And in the Encyclopedia Brittanica. The diner up there with the kickass pie by the put-in for the Box / takeout for Honeymooner is the Clarks Fork & Spoon -- of course that's out of state, in Wyoming, where the Box Canyon actually is -- so maybe it's more of a MT vs. Wyo thing? But then a quick Googlin' shows that the whole World Wides of Web, as well as MT local businesses including flyfishing shops call it the Clark's Fork. Parentheses would've helped, but you could also just restate your original comment as "Hey Brian, you're perpetuating the correct nomenclature of a river that my friends & I would rather you refer to as the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone" BTW, the town of Absorkee has great, cheap burgers & shakes at a drive-in staffed by deadly-cute local jailbait ... East Rosebud's a fun run.. Cheers, t |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2008 at 7:38pm
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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. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: water wacko
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 7:38am
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Originally posted by spilly
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_ Wow! Awesome! A great story and I can't believe somebody C-1'ed it. And the others were in Hollowforms! Holy crap. Good stuff. ![]("smileys/smiley1.gif") ------------- "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman |
Posted By: slickhorn
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2008 at 8:37am
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nice words jp. thanks for sharing.
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