# Overnight on the Blackfoot?



## basinrafter (May 12, 2009)

As far as I know, the Smith is the only river in Montana that requires a permit, period.


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## Billy Goat (Feb 3, 2011)

The legal answer is no. All the info is in lower links. Pretty lame for sure. That river does get hammered by the idiot nation and landowners are not cool.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks :: Blackfoot River Recreation Planning

FWP to try boater campsites on Blackfoot River

Pack your GPS. There are a few state sections touching the river that would certainly be defensible.


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

Billy Goat said:


> That river does get hammered by the idiot nation and landowners are not cool.
> .


What, u don't find the "claws up" crew friendly? Oddly enough, they own the Roundup put in. They could shut it down the public use anytime they want and I'm surprised they haven't.


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## montuckymonkey (Aug 1, 2012)

*After I posted this....*

I did some searching and had my federal attorney friend check into some things and he got back to me and said " this site explains it all" ... nationalrivers.org ... I printed up a few copies to hand to land owners that tell me I can't be there. And my friend says to absolutly press charges to any land owner that threatens you with bodily harm so they get the message and they learn the laws.


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## cupido76 (May 22, 2009)

In Canada, property rights end at the "high water line" which is clearly open to interpretation... but the jist of it is that if you float a river any time other than flood, you are allowed to camp on the banks anywhere to want.

The openness to interpretation can clearly cause disagreements, but a little tact and diplomacy will usually settle that easily. I personally haven't ever had a problem.

The only exception(s) to this rule that I've heard of locally (Alberta) are:
1) A long section of the South Saskatchewan River flows through an army base where they regularly do live fire exercises and you have to get permission before even floating that part of the river let alone camping on it.
2) There's a native reservation that feel the rules don't apply to them and have reportedly gotten very aggressive/violent with people trying to float a section of the Bow River below Carseland. Whether they are allowed to or not, I'm not going to push that one and find out.

That being said, we also have an overprotective municipal government that was "closing" the river to use during high water in Calgary and threatening people with fines if they're even on the banks. People die every year on the rivers in town but it's because their careless and stupid, not directly because of the river. Trying to protect the retards from their shot at natural selection seems unfair to me.

But I digress... the point is there is very little legally holding anyone back from boat or camping on rivers up here. The concept of owning a stream or lake bed is... strange to me.


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## montuckyhuck (Mar 14, 2010)

Legally you can camp at Russell Gates or river bend. They both have river and vehicle access and are designated camp sites. You will not be able to float into Bonner or Missoula though. The river is closed to floating from weigh station take out down just a bit past the confluence.


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## montuckyhuck (Mar 14, 2010)

montuckymonkey said:


> I did some searching and had my federal attorney friend check into some things and he got back to me and said " this site explains it all" ... nationalrivers.org ... I printed up a few copies to hand to land owners that tell me I can't be there. And my friend says to absolutly press charges to any land owner that threatens you with bodily harm so they get the message and they learn the laws.


You may find some folks around here just don't give a shit what piece of paper you hand them....


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## birdman83 (Apr 30, 2009)

I just did an overnight on the blackfoot this weekend. It was great, but the resource does get hammered. We put in at Russell Gates, and floated 18 miles on the first day to Corricks River Bend. Then floated 11 more miles on Sunday to Johnsrud. 

There are two camp sites at Corricks that require a permit. The permit is easy to get, just have to call and reserve. They also have a "float-in camp" at Nine Mile. I thought the float-in camps were going to be more remote, however, the Corricks camp was just downstream of the drive up camping. You do see some foot traffic from the other sites. If I was to do it again, I would drop a car at Corricks with all of the overnight gear, just to make the logistics of floating a little easier. 

It was a great weekend. I hear they are trying to get more float in camps established in the coming years, so you could do a three to four day trip on the river. 

Good luck.


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## montuckymonkey (Aug 1, 2012)

*Sad...*

montuckyhuck... Sounds like I should carry the legal papers and my gun. Are they that bad ? I will leave but I will call the cops if they don't. My federal attorney buddy says our laws are not much different then Canada's and landowners and most local police and sheriff's don't know water laws he says camp wherever you want let them write you a ticket go to court and it will be thrown out. I realize he is not in MT and lives in DC but he is very exacting on legal issues..he has to be his job depends on it and I have yet to have him be wrong on a legal matter. I guess I'll find out.


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## montuckyhuck (Mar 14, 2010)

montuckymonkey said:


> montuckyhuck... Sounds like I should carry the legal papers and my gun. Are they that bad ? I will leave but I will call the cops if they don't. My federal attorney buddy says our laws are not much different then Canada's and landowners and most local police and sheriff's don't know water laws he says camp wherever you want let them write you a ticket go to court and it will be thrown out. I realize he is not in MT and lives in DC but he is very exacting on legal issues..he has to be his job depends on it and I have yet to have him be wrong on a legal matter. I guess I'll find out.


No, folks around here are generally fairly nice but the exceptions are are out there. There are however some legal camping options that I and others have given you beta for. Why don't you use one of those campgrounds instead of causing conflicts between boaters and land owners in a heavily used resource that is greatly valued by the area boating community. Just sounds fairly duechy saying you are going to show up and camp wherever the hell you want, and if anyone tells you otherwise you will call the cops. There are laws and then there is common sense. I value common sense. I am not saying everyone around here is a trigger happy hillbilly (we do have some of those though), what I am saying is don't expect a nice reception when you go waving your "legal papers" in people's faces and telling them your ranger fu¥<ing Rick.


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## montuckymonkey (Aug 1, 2012)

*???*

No I said my friend told me to camp where ever I want...I'm not trying to imply that I am going to do so but I mearly wanted to know what is the deal when I get there is all sorry if I came accross differently. I am not looking to piss anyone off and surley am not going to do anything screw up a good thing. My biggest questions were wheather or not there are in fact campgrounds along the Blackfoot because when I look on maps I see "parks" but didn't find anything about camping so thank you all for helping me figure this out.


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## montuckymonkey (Aug 1, 2012)

*...*

I treat everyone the way I want them to treat me. I also won't shit in my own yard so I'm not going to do so in anyone else's.


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

It is critical on the Blackfoot not to piss off the landowners. Paws up has shut down access to most of the riverside land. however as I mentioned they own a major put in that they could shut down if people piss them off too much. Landowners are much more tolerant of rafters if they don't violate their private property rights. Don't be an asshole and hopefully they won't be that to us. The Blackfoot is really not a prime overnight run. Much work has gone on between stakeholders including regulators landowners and recreationalists. Sometimes it's a tenuous group but things seem to be going smooth, let's keep it that way


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