For my first time paddling in Montana I was having a great weekend. Heather and I decided to get some creeking in during the spring melt so we met up with David Duke from Idaho and Luke from Montana. After two days of paddling we started realizing that most of the rivers and creeks were flooded in the Bitteroot Mountains. I was getting nervous to head over to Big Timer, I didn't really want to put on that creek at high water. So after a long drawn out discussion we decided to head over there. Not knowing what to expect from this creek my anticipatation was high and I was nervous about it being to high. We arrived in Big Timber at around 2:30 am and slept in a gas station parking lot, waking up the next morning and looking out the window I could see the Crazy Mountains. Extremely beautiful, they just pop up out of no where, flat farmland surrounds the whole range. We stop for breakfast and talk about the creek before we head the rest of the way, Dave and Luke had both run this creek several times before. At last we take off and head for the Crazies.
Driving up to the mountains I could finally see Big Timber Creek and to my relief it looked like a manageable flow, but the again what do I know I was looking at it on flat land and what we were paddling was 700 fpm, things can change quite fast. Finally getting to the take out, I'm filled with excitement, looking like it was a manageable flow from below thoughts of Big Timber Falls filled my mind. I've always wanted to run that drop, watching it in Nurpu and looking at countless pictures of it, I thought it would be so much fun. So we leave all of our gear behind and walk up to Big Timber Falls, the closer we get the bigger the roar, finally we reach it and I sit there looking at it in awe. Damn, this thing is a lot bigger then I pictured it. It was huge and the lead in was tricky on top of it to. Getting a bad feeling in my gut we walked back to the car to get our gear, trying to block the drop out of my mind, after all it's the last one we have to run. We started our hike up the creek, Heather, Dave, Luke and I, enjoying the scenery of the walk. about a mile up we started to run into snow, realizing we had two miles left I was wondering how deep the snow would get. So we just kept on going, hearing the river next to us but never seeing much of it gave us anticipation of a good day on the river. About 3/4 of the way up we were up to our knees in snow and climbing over a huge avalanche that happend this past winter, then Heather started deciding against running the river. So she left her boat and gear along side the trail and helped the rest of up get to the top. Once crossing the second bridge there were no tracks to be seen, not even normal tourists any more, we started realizing that we were probably the first people to put on for the season, knowing this we had to be extra careful of wood on the creek. Finally were at the put in, after a hike that seemed like forever through deep snow we finally get to put in. The first couple drops were a fun warm up, basic slides with some fun boofs, Heather following us the whole way, helping us video and take pics. We arrived at the first bridge headed down stream, this was the point for Heather to leave us.
Now with just Dave, Luke and I we headed down stream and after a few more drops and minor rapids we came to the first major rapid, "Fine Line". Looking at the drop from the top, it looked like a blast. It started out with a technical lead in and went into the part that gave this drop it's name. You could either go left boofing into a hole or boof off the right side that if you missed your line you landed on rock. So I decided to go first so I could take video from down below, I get in my boat with a hundred percent confidence that I know excatly where I'm going. I entered the lead in going right where I wanted to and headed hard right boofing off the the rock ledge but missing the "Fine Line" and landing on rock, Oh that hurt, but the rest of the slide was fine. I get to the bottom and out of my boat with Luke and Dave looking at me and I just shrug it off. Next was Luke, he decided to take the left line and made it look way to easy, kind of making me regret running the side I did. He slides down to the bottom and gets out with another camera to film Dave. Dave finally appears coming around the corner into the entrance rapid, and take the line I did and hit one of the biggest boof I'd ever seen, but then his stern hit rock and made him pencil right into a piton! He hit hard and Luke and I knew it. You could see he was in pain down the rest of the slide and when he reached the bottom he was cursing purely out of pain. But he couldn't hike out here we had to go for at least another quarter mile before we even came close to the trail again. So he decided to put up with it and go down another quarter mile. With Luke and I in the lead looking for the path of least resistance so Dave could make it through without hitting to many rocks. Partway down we came upon a pretty big horizon line, Luke thought he remembered the line so he went first, but I never saw him come out the bottom, then I hear Dave that he saw wood. So I hopped out of my boat and once I got onto shore Luke was playing with a full size tree, about four feet in diameter and fifty feet long. He pushed himself into an eddy and the tree went over the next drop getting vertically pinned on the river right side and opening up the whole left side. He looks up at me with a smile and says "Woods clear", I just shook my head and went back to my boat. We finally got to the portage above the Pinch.
We got out of our boats and helped Dave up to the trail, we decided to split up, Dave was walking out and Luke and I were going to continue. So we portaged our boats above Tripple Dipple to scout The Pinch, an 80-100 foot vertial and about 300 foot long slide that towards the bottom gets to about 6 feet wide. They saying for this drop is "whatever you do, don't go sideways". After looking at this massive slide I got excited and I wanted to run it first, so Luke went up to set up our cameras and I went and put in above Tripple Dipple. I ran Tripple Dipple and then looked into the massive slide ahead of me, at this point there was only one way to go, and that was down. The Pinch went perfect I edied out below it and set up camera for Luke. We ran the next few several slides with no problems and then we got to the Gambler. This is a slide that goes around a corner into an extremely sticky hole, if you get stuck you most likely are going to swim unless one of your buddies gets to you and pulls you out first. I took a look and watched Luke run the drop. He styled it, not even a hesitation in the hole, but I still decided to portage.
Finally we got to the portage above Big Timber Falls, we walked around and
saw Heather and Dave sitting on the rocks looking at the falls waiting for
us to come down. Luke and I went over to them to see how they were doing.
Heather asked me if I was going to run it, my problem was I get that bad
feeling in my stomache again. I just didn't know. So Luke and I went up to
the top of the drop to look at the entrance, to my surprise it was a
trickier entrance then I first thought. The water bounced off the river
right wall before it entered the main part of the slide. I was nervouse but
I knew I wouldn't be out here until next year again.
"Fuck IT, I'm going"!
I yelled at Luke.
"Tell them to get the cameras going".
Even before he gave me the OK I started going, I couldn't wait any longer.
All I can remember is being able to see something after the main entrance,
going around a corner, and then it was like time has stopped, and I was
staring at a big horizon line that ended in a wall.
"Here we go", I thought to myself.
I went over the horizon line and fourty-fived my entrance off the falls.
It went perfect! I nailed the line I went for. I just looked up at Heather
with a huge smile on my face, and then got ready to watch Luke run the drop.
I was sitting at the base of the falls in my boat and I couldn't see anything until he was at the lip of the vertical part, he dropped over and I hear a loud BANG! I knew immeadiatly he hit the rock behind the falls. He rolled up and I could see a softballs sized dent in the bow of his boat, then as he paddled closer I realized that about a quarter of his boat was bent up also! I yelled at him, are you OK? he just looks at me with a smile and says "yep". As I'm staring at his boat he says "I think I hit the rock", talk about stating the obvious.
So we climbed out below the falls and hiked to our cars. What a phenomanal day, I just ran Big Timber! All I could think of for the rest of the way home was that I couldn't wait until next year.
~Nate~