The Musselshell River : Floating

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Depending on what a person is seeking, a float trip down the Musselshell River can either be a wonderful trip or an exercise in frustration. The numerous diversion dams can test the patience of even the most stalwart of floaters. While some of the dams can be floated over, most need to be portaged. Throw in the slow water, frequent windy conditions, fences across the river and extremely low water levels and you end up with a potentially frustrating float trip.

But it is those same frustrations that keep this river essentially float free. A floater who arrives during high water levels and before the beginning of intense irrigation use and who can live with the portages and slow current can find solitude galore along Musselshell River. Even better, the Musselshell enters Fort Peck Lake right near the tip of the UL Bend Wilderness, which is located in the UL Bend Wildlife Refuge, providing even more solitude.

Without question, a canoe or inflatable kayak is the boat of choice for floating this river. The river is to narrow, shallow and twisty for large rafts, and the very slow current would require to much rowing anyway to make a raft worthwhile on the Musselshell River.

For anglers who would like to have a longer float on the Musselshell River but who aren't particularly wild about all the portages due to the diversion dams, don't despair. A very long float through the most remote section of the river is possible, portage free. The last of the diversion dams in encountered more than 160 miles upstream from Fort Peck Lake, near the town of Queens Point. Downstream from Queens Point, except for an occasional fence that might block the way, no more dams, at least legal dams, should be encountered.

It should be noted that, by mid-summer, the flows on the Musselshell River are generally so low and the depths of the river so shallow that the river is essentially unfloatable. Due to a combination of intensive irrigation use, the regions on-again, off-again drought and the lack of snowmelt in all too many years, the middle section of the Musselshell River often turns into often a scattering of deep pools with just a trickle of water running between them. Anyone seeking to float the Musselshell River should plan a trip on the river no later than June, with May generally offering the best floating conditions.

Mussellshell River : River Miles

Musselshell River Origin at North and South Forks: 362
Selkirk FAS: 358
County Bridge at Two Dot, MT: 345
Highway 191 Bridge in Harlowton: 326
County Bridge: 318
County Bridge in Shawmut, MT: 299
Barber Road Bridge: 287
County Bridge in Ryegate, MT: 277
Cushman Road Bridge: 257
Highway 3 Road Bridge in Lavina, MT: 249
Dean Creek Road Bridge: 232
Goulding Creek Road Bridge: 217
Highway 87 Bridge: 210
4 Road Bridge in Roundup, MT: 206
Parrot Creek Road Bridge in Gage, MT: 196
Fattig Creek Road in Delphina, MT: 172
Musselshell Road Bridge in Musselshell, MT: 161
Queens Point Road Bridge in Queens Point, MT: 153
Melstone-Custer Road Bridge in Melstone: 135
Highway 12 Bridge: 129
Highway 200 Bridge in Mosby, MT: 72
Blood Creek Road Bridge: 27
Fort Peck Lake: 0

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