14-mile day trip located 35 miles west of Missoula. This pool-and- 

 drop section is a favorite of Missoula kayakers which can be run 

 in every conceivable type of raft. Several of the rapids are rated 

 Class III and IV (on the white-water rating system). Access is 

 not formal but not difficult, either. A common, privately-owned 

 put-in is below the bridges at the Cyr exit. Some boaters launch a 

 few miles upstream for a flatwater run with one notable 

 exception--Rest Stop rapid, a name that describes both its 

 location and what will happen to the errant raft that misses the 

 tongue . 



The first rapid, right around the first corner from Cyr, is a 

 straight shot through bouncy waves. The Cliffside series offers 

 more of the same, but with bigger, more sharply angled waves and a 

 good hydraulic at the bottom. Next is Triple Bridges, an 

 unmistakable landmark and a good put-in for running the three 

 miles to Fish Creek. A short distance below lies Tumbleweed, the 

 most difficult rapid in the Gorge, but the Chicken Chute at the 

 far right is an easier out. A run up the middle can be disastrous 

 and even a clean left-center run is complex as the steep tongue 

 disappears into crashing waves. Just 100 yards or so below 

 Tumbleweed is a little reward for a successful run -- a mid-river 

 glassy trough called Surfer Joe. The final noteworthy rapid. Fang, 

 signals the end of the good rapids. 



Botanical Features 



The lower Clark Fork drainage contains nine percent of the 

 state's botanical natural features receiving a final value of 

 Class I or Class II, no more than the average for the state. Of 

 the 32 sites inventoried within this drainage, ten (31 percent) 

 are located on the Flathead Indian Reservation. 



Many of the outstanding botanical features inventoried in this 

 drainage are proposed Research Natural Areas (RNAs) or National 

 Natural Landmarks (NNLs). An outstanding example is Council Grove, 

 a 400-acre site on the Clark Fork River just west of Missoula, 

 which contains wetland areas and a forest stand of black 

 Cottonwood and ponderosa pine. The site also contains a population 

 of pointed broom sedge (Carex scoparia ) , a plant listed by the 

 Montana Rare Plants Project as rare. Council Grove is a popular 

 bird-watching site, and although it has received heavy grazing 

 pressure in the past, it has regional significance as a rare 

 example of a near-pristine riparian forest in western Montana. 



A different forest grove from that of the river bottomlands is 

 a population of mature mountain hemlock found within the proposed 

 Ulm Peak RNA. This moist, 725-acre site is located along the 

 Montana/Idaho state line within the Coeur d'Alene Mountains. This 

 population is considered unique in western Montana, because it is 

 here that the species reaches its eastern limit. Normally, it is 



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