Earlier this year, I woke up one morning wondering what fun trip we could do that our dogs could participate in. We’ve done lots of road trips, and they get old and tiring. I wanted something relaxing that everyone could enjoy. For some reason, canoeing came immediately to mind. I started searching the web for a week long trip within easy driving of Colorado. The Upper Missouri River was one of my first finds, and I immediately decided we would do it! When Erin woke up, I relayed my excitement and the details of our trip, and she came on board.
First obstacle? A canoe! At first, we thought about renting one from a guide company in Fort Benton. After looking on Craigslist and eBay, it became apparent that we could probably own a canoe for the same price as renting. An ebay win brought me to Grand Junction, where I picked up our new (to us) Wenonah Sundowner 18, tuffweave canoe.
Months of planning, accumulating maps, drybags, dinner recipes, …. We finally left Fort Collins for our trip on August 20th, 2010. The drive to Fort Benton took us 13 hours, half of Friday and most of Saturday. We hit the river late Saturday afternoon and made camp at river mile 4.5R on private land :(. But oh, the fun we were already having! Canoeing is for the Bibeau family!
For 7 days and 6 nights, we paddled the first 89 miles of the Upper Missouri River, stopping along the way to view scenic Lewis & Clark sites, abandoned homesteads, hikes, and relaxation. Our campsites were:
Night 1: River Mile 4.5R Private land, about 1 mile short of our goal of Evan’s Bend
Night 2: Wood Bottom
Night 3: Coal Banks Landing
Night 4: Eagle Creek
Night 5: Hole in the Wall
Night 6: Slaughter River
Our canoe performed better than we could have expected, especially for two novice canoe-ers with 2 novice canoe dogs. No tips, nothing got too wet, we’re ready to do the Green River next year! And, we met lots of really nice folks along the way.