#2: [19-Jun-04]

05-Aug-2003 -- Wow! What a beautiful place! And what a remote place! After twenty miles of dirt road, (most of it requiring 4WD), we finally made it to the Wyoming/Montana border just outside of the Bighorn National Forest. Then I thought it would be an easy, 1.25-mile walk along Trout Creek to the confluence. Of course it's never that easy. Trout Creek enters a canyon with 150 ft high walls at this point. We (me, my wife, and our two small children) tried to walk alongside the creek, but the underbrush was far too thick. Since my boots were wet already, I thought I'd trudge ahead through the creek itself. After 50 meters, a beaver dam (see pic) put a stop to that. After some reconnoitering on the canyon walls, I had to give up with still a mile to go.

This is certainly possible to get to. I would recommend starting early in the morning, as the drive from the nearest town, Montana or Wyoming, is at least 2 hours. Near the confluence, you'll probably have better luck starting from the top of the cliffs on the Montana side. We did have a wonderful experience at the "Historic Old Stone House Bed & Breakfast" in nearby Ranchester, so I highly recommend it as a good base for this trek.