Missoula rafting in June is hard to beat. Montana River Guides is offering whitewater and scenic raft trips near Missoula on the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers.  Right now the weather is warming up and the river levels are dropping after near-record high flows in much of western Montana.  The Blackfoot is flowing at about 5,000 cubic feet per second and has fun family whitewater at these levels. The Alberton Gorge of the Clark Fork River has much bigger whitewater. It has dropped down to 19,000 cubic feet per second which is one of the biggest, funnest levels according to many of our guides over the years. So conditions are great right now for an early summer whitewater trip.

Our river rescue instructors are finishing up one of the more interesting springs in recent years. Mike, Cory, Sam and Maddey all teach Swiftwater Rescue for the Whitewater Rescue Institute. They have been traveling and teaching river safety and rescue with the WRI team on rivers from the Mississippi River all the way down to Costa Rica and west to the North Fork of the Feather River in California. One highlight was teaching on the Clark Fork River when it was flowing at 60,000 cubic feet per second!

Swiftwater Rescue Training with Montana River Guides and WRI

The first rule of whitewater rafting safety is wear the right equipment. Always wear your pfd when whitewater rafting. It’s still cool enough air and water temperatures for wetsuits which are always complimentary for our guided trips.  If you are comfortable and dressed right you are going to be safer and have more fun. If it’s overcast wear a swimsuit and a snug fitting top layer of fleece under your wetsuit to help keep you warm. Wool or fleece sox and a beanie to wear under your helmet also are nice for warmth. Check in with us for a conditions update if you have young kids to make sure we help you choose a section of river appropriate for your groups age and experience level.

We love cold mountain rivers!

We have plenty of familiar faces coming back to guide Missoula rafting trips this season. Cory, Ellie, Leon, Jerrod, Sam Kinney, Sam Johnston and Maelan will all be back guiding trips. We are also welcoming a few new guides who will make us much better at what we do. It looks like we have one more quiet weekend before summer takes off to enjoy the high-water conditions, train and prepare, and hang out at the ranch. WRI has a swift water rescue class in Yellowstone next week. Cory is leading a whitewater rafting clinic at MSU Billings. Mike will be catching up in the office and sneaking down for a surf session at Brennan’s wave twice a day. We’ll all be enjoying the rivers while they are still high and cold and powerful, because that is what we do.