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Upper Missouri Breaks River Float
  • Roxanne Dunn
  • Roxanne Dunn

Upper Missouri Breaks River Float

Five of us went 88 miles on the Upper Missouri River Breaks section in 5 days and 4 nights, in two 17' Old Town Canoes. Here's our experience! Read more
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  • Trip start
    May 17, 2026
    Roxanne DunnUpper Missouri Breaks River FloatTraveler
    Our entertainment when the quiet of the river is just too quiet.
    Brice thinking about how he's going to keep us all from tipping over the canoe.2Cassie brings enthusiasm and the ability to capture the awe.Kelly, with humor and old fashion know how keeps us all calm.1Roxanne had a vision to share what this stretch of river has to offer to the soul.Kelly arrives with a clean truck and leaves with one caked with Missouri Breaks mud.Cute town of Ft. BentonBrice may be a little bit afraid, and Kelly may be not enough afraid. A nice balance.Cassie and I take on this additional paddler in our boat.1We are fresh as daisies on day one.1Kelly contemplating if the boats will really float with this much STUFF on board.

    Our Crew, Ft. Benton Start

    May 17 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    Here's our crew, Jude, Brice, Cassie, Kelly & Roxanne

    Kelly arrives in Billings, having driven from Denver he spends the night on the 16th and we do some packing and planning and get up early on the 17th. We pack up two vehicles and head to Ft. Benton (3 1/2 hour drive) where we spend the night in an AirbnB. We visit our canoe provider and get briefed as well as get our paddles and seat backs. The canoes will be delivered to our put-in spot in Ft. Benton near the city's round-about.. We take one car to the takeout at Judith Landing so we'll be able to shuttle ourselves back to Ft. Benton where we leave the pickup.

    We pack the canoes with two coolers, one for food (mostly cooked ahead and frozen) topped with dry good on top, the other cooler has ice and cold drinks. We put all our kitchen supplies in a dry box and the rest of our gear goes into dry bags. Not knowing how much these two canoes can hold all we can do is get a big eye ball assessment of what fits into the back of Kelly's pickup truck aught to fit into two 17' long, three seat canoes. We run about town getting some last minute items like recommended fishing tackle and two wrapped firewood bundles. We all climb into the canoes never having paddled them before, but each having a bit of kayak paddling and we adapt as quickly as possible.

    Now we're ready for 88 miles down the river. We'll go an average of 20 miles each day for the first three, then finish up the rest by splitting the miles between the last two days. We can dump our trash and resupply water on the second night. We've picked campsites that have vault toilets and fire rings as those are our bare minimum requirements.    Read more

  • Roxanne DunnUpper Missouri Breaks River FloatTraveler
    Deck box, drink cooler and Brice - in that order.
    Jude catches his first ever fish. He reeled him like a pro. The fish is a golden eye.The Kelly & Brice boat had two fishing poles in action most of the time.The Roxanne, Cassie and Jude boat had a lot of relaxing.211Blowing up of air mattresses requires someone with good lungs.Our camp near Wood Bottom was away from the main campground and very private.

    Day 1: Ft. Benton to Wood Bottom

    May 18 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F

    First day paddling a 17' fully loaded canoe, first day on the water, the first fish Jude caught. Traveled 20 river miles from Ft. Benton to Wood Bottom today. Arrived at our campsite about 5:30 pm because we were so busy floating and fishing we didn't bother paddling at all. We also had a bit of a head wind today so even though the river is flowing at 3-4 miles/hour we are feeling like we might be standing still at times. Thankfully no rain today, even though yesterday it rained a lot. In fact, dropping my car off at the take-out point was very slippery on muddy Montana backroads. Kelly was following behind with Brice as a passenger, I am pretty sure they were thinking a tow rope would be needed. But, alas it was not. I don't think the mini-van was intended for this type of adventure, but it is a great people and gear hauler so it gets to adapt to the job. I am glad I held out for AWD when I was car shopping. I just kept promising my mini-van that she would get the deluxe car wash when we got home. She must have agreed because we did get it to Judith Landing without sliding off the road.Read more

  • Roxanne DunnUpper Missouri Breaks River FloatTraveler
    Jude netted a drowning bee and let it dry out on the cooler until it flew away on its own.
    The sun going down at Wood Bottom.Brother and sister acting silly when told to pose together.Our first night of camp at Wood Bottom. View of the water and dinner is rib-eyes on the grill.A room with a view. Our first night near Wood Bottom Campground.The dock at Coal Banks CampgroundWe've landed our canoes and unloaded camping gear. This pullout was hard to spot from the river.A view of the river from Coal Banks camping area.We have the Coal Banks campground all to ourselves. Potable water and trash was the extras here.Evening at Coal Banks Campground. This campground is accessible by road too.

    Day 2: Wood Bottom to Coal Banks

    May 19 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    Day two we had favorable wind at our backs and a bit of sunshine here and there. We packed our canoes for the second time glad that we left the heavy coolers in the boats and just off loaded only our meal for the night and the necessities. The first night at Wood Bottom was rib-eye steaks, broccoli and cheesy garlic bread. Yes, it was delish! Our dinner on our second night is meaty chili stew and cinnamon rolls cooked on the open fire. Very satisfying even though I forgot to put the frosting on before we gobbled the rolls up. Thank you Pillsbury! Just pop the can, wrap individually in heavy foil and put them on the outer edge of the hot wood coals. Cooking for tired, hungry people who have been outside all day turns out to be a lot of accolades for very little effort.

    The bee was rescued by Jude as it was drowning on the river. Turns out Jude had the net in the water a lot scooping up may flies and happened to scoop up this bee. He put it on the cooler let it dry itself in the sun and we all watched it take off and rise high into the air. The boy is now a bee whisperer. So much fun to take him anywhere because he can find something interesting in the smallest of things.    Read more

  • Roxanne DunnUpper Missouri Breaks River FloatTraveler
    Cassie's cute watercolor kit for painting and floating.
    We're happy floaters.Hole in the Wall feature viewable from the campgrounds.The Hole in the Wall campground

    Day 3: Coal Banks to Hole in the Wall

    May 20 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Our third 20 mile day. We float from Coal Banks camp ground which had potable water to refill our containers, a visitor's center (not yet open for the season) and a large trash dumpster. It is also a major RV campground as it is accessible by river and road. However, we were the only people camping at Coal Banks. Hole in the Wall, on the other hand is river access only. It had a shelter (half shed) and vault toilets and a fenced campground with lots of views of the whole in a rock wall. Again, no other boaters arrived and we had the entire place to ourselves. We had bratwursts that we grilled first then wrapped in flake pastry (again thanks Philsbury) and made pig in the blankets much the same as we made cinnamon rolls. This was a big hit for everyone and Jude again providing ample entertainment made a point system for starting the fire with as few matches as possible, the technique of cooking as well as the success of the meal to please the group. I got 40 points, but then he challenged Cassie to cook tomorrow's meal to compete with me. This was fun.Read more

  • Roxanne DunnUpper Missouri Breaks River FloatTraveler
    Seven Sisters formation.Our last night was at Slaughter River Campground. This camp is not accessible by road.Slaughter River campground. Cassie cooked the chicken noodle soup and cheesy or blueberry biscuits.There was plenty of firewood here and it was our last night so we enjoyed a bit of extra fireside.

    Day 4: Whole in the Wall to Slaughter River

    May 21 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    This is the White Cliff's area called the Wild and Scenic part of the float. The sound of the birds, water, wind as well as our paddles swishing through the water were all poetry to the ears. Despite its name the Slaughter River campground named for a nearby buffalo jump harvest where remnants of bones were found was a very pleasant campground with some amenities and not accessible by road so very quiet and we had it all to ourselves.

    Cassie did indeed take up the challenge and got her fire lit with 1 match, whereas I took two. She made chicken noodle soup from dried soup mix in a pot over a grate on the wood fire and then she added a chicken pad Thai to the soup. It was hardy and so delicious. Then she and Jude made cheese stuffed flakey biscuits stuffed with cream cheese, butter and blueberry jam. She used the frosting that I had forgotten to add to the top of all the dessert biscuits and knocked it out of the park. She scored 60 points beating out her own mother and proving that ordinary chicken soup could be fine cuisine. Patting our tummies we turned in. It was a chili night because there were no clouds. The night sky was beautiful though.    Read more

  • Roxanne DunnUpper Missouri Breaks River FloatTraveler
    Jude and Brice do a cold plunge in their short.Cassie and Jude climb like billy goats.

    Day 5: Slaughter River to Judith Landing

    May 22 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

    Our last day and mostly through the beautiful Wild and Scenic portion with the White Cliffs, and a bit sad that our journey on the river was nearing its end. On the way to Judith Landing we found a nice pullout for the boats and Cassie and Jude clambered up the side of a steep grade to act like mountain goats and got some nice photos of flowers and Jude showed of his climbing prowess.

    Of course, the last day was the sunniest and the warmest so the river was beaconing us to stay. Alas, we departed at the Judith Landing with everything on the trip going as smoothly as one could hope. We had wind dried faces and hands, cracked lips and big smiles. We stopped in Ft. Benton for giant hamburgers at the Club House on Main Street. They were so delicious that nobody even spoke until we had filled our bellies.

    Hopefully, this isn't just a once in a lifetime experience and there are many more such fun trips in our future. But it is one I'll remember and cherish forever.    Read more

    Trip end
    May 22, 2026
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