[wharf-rat]

Hi folks, I think I may check out the flathead this July. Putting in at bear creek taking out at Blankenship bridge. Is this worthy of an overnighter? Any spots I should be looking for to camp out. Are weekends super busy? Any playboating in my kayak for the whitewater section below moccasin? Appropriate for 8 year olds?? Any beta appreciated. I was looking at the north fork but it looks kinda flat

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Iam no local exspert but we do that river a couole times a year on my fams glacier trip. Its a beautiful river for sure with crazy blue water. The rivers road side kinda. Not alot of directly roadside but a short or steep hike. East sides public and east glacier park. Weve allways just done it as a day float through the whitewater stretch. The upper is more a scenic/fishing river unlless you go way up then its a fly in multi day whitewater but you probably all ready know that. Plenty of playfull stuff for a hard boat i would think. Theres some standing waves and a couple holes i can think of. Dont know if id let my 8 yr old paddle his own kayak though? The waters cold cold. The raids are easy though unless high water. I usually hard boat and my wife and friend use duckies . We leave my youngest with grammy. My 14 yr old daughter and i did a tandem ik last year just fine .My wife swam last year no biggie lots of room to recover and plenty deep around 4k when we did it. Lots of commercial paddle rafts but i really didnt feel like it was crowded at all. The shuttles kinda long but oh well and plenty of options for paying for one. . I dont know this as a fact but i think east side forest service is good to go for camping. At least montana is really good about camping in forest service. 14 days 14 miles.Its bear country though and last year we saw a small grizz down there and saw 2 bkack bears too. No biggie just gotta bring spray and be smart with food. Ive done the flathead on the west border from canada too and its a camping trip no real whitewater at all but scenic and nice. We allways stay at glacier campround since we have a large grouo young ones and grandparents. Its cheap and has showers ect. But i think that would be more fun to do a overnight on the river.plenty of beta from local guides up there and glacier is a must see!! Hope this helps. Well be up there for two weeks in jully/august. This year will be good snow run off for sure. Last year rivet topped around 20k. That might not be fun at least for me. Had a kayaker tell me his favorite was around 8k? Iam not a badass so i like it easier. May be pretty tame to a exspert boater fyi. Bigforks not far away and it has the wild mile a class 5/4 stretch if you are that guy. Google big fork whitewater festival. Ive never done it but it looks very bubbly. Youll love the area as a whole for a family holliday but its not a big whitewater destination i dont think. Ok nuff blabbering