Bob Marshall Wilderness

I am thinking of going to the Bob Marshall Wilderness this summer for the first time. I would appreciate suggestions on where to camp (roughing it) and where to walk and wade. I am willing to hike in 1-3 hours for fishing.

If you're only willing to walk that far you will be limited to fishing near Spotted Bear. Any other walk in to the river is going to take all day or longer and is not going to work unless you are backpacking.

If I am willing to back pack in, how long a hike to a good base camp? Are the designated sites?

I have only hiked in there once so I'm not really your best resource. I think it was a pretty long hike of about 13 miles in. It is a wilderness area so you can camp wherever you want and there are primitive sites which are very nice, but not outhouses or anything. All the hikes that I know of start by climbing several thousand feet in elevation then dropping into the basin where the S. Fork is. The fishing is good there.

Polar bear showers!

Watch out for the Grizzz. Pilgrim. :roll:

The Bob Marshall isn't a place you just hike into without doing some real research first. Get a decent topo map and seriously plan your trip if you want to have a good experience. If you're going in just to fish and want to hit the great fishing the wilderness can offer, you're going to need to extend your 1-3 hour hike by a couple of days. Probably the easiest, but most crowded, hike and fish into the wilderness is from Spotted Bear at the south end of Hungry Horse reservoir. You can fish there with a 1-3 hour hike, but won't even have scratched the surface of the Bob Marshall.

CEA, I am a very detailed planner and appreciate your input. Can you recommend any books or other resources? I want to avoid the expense of a guided trip.

Thanks

Slough foot -- I can certainly appreciate you wanting to avoid the expense of a guide. I'd recommend if you hike into the Bob Marshall you go without the annoyance and expense of a guide, but that you go with at least one other person for a number of reasons, primarily safety. There are some guidebooks published about the area, none of them strictly fishing related that I know of, though some magazine articles have addressed the S. Fork of the Flathead in some detail. The S. Fork is surely the most heavily used fishing area in the wilderness, though there are other great fishing areas - particularly some of the mountain lakes. Erik Molvar's hiking the Bob Marshall book is not super, but probably the best hiking guidebook out there if you like a guidebook. The other option, and my favorite, is to get the topo map of the area with trails marked, and head into anywhere that looks good. Give yourself at least 3 days at a minimum to fish - one to hike in, one or more to fish, and another to hike out.

cea, I will definitely go with someone else for safety and am fairly bear wise. This past summer a grizzly walked right into our camp site at Slough Creek in Yellowstone. Fortunately we keep a clean sight and behave appropriately.

I guess we'll do our usual where we will walk in for 1/2 day and then set up a base camp for 3 or so nights and then hike out. I'll also get a good topo map and use Google Earth.

If you run across any info on a good base camp with near by stream fishing let me.

Thanks for the info.

You might try a search on the Main Page of this website, articles both on the S.Fork and a pack trip into the back country of the 'Bob.'

:D Having walked one end to the other a while back. (40 years ago) and hunted there a # of times trying to shoot a Grizly ( you could buy a tag over the counter at that time.) You have a much better chance of being hit by lighting twice in the same day than even seeing one. Have fun and don't sweat the bears!

Rich

Slough foot:
I can't suggest any particular base camp, though there are some good ones. Along the S. Fork, there are plenty of camps.
I suggested hiking with someone else, not particularly because of bears, but because its a rugged wilderness and its good to have someone around in the unlucky event any number of things that could go wrong actually do. Regarding bears, I've had more success running across bears in that area than apaprently Mr. Ward had 40 years ago. Here's a photo of one from this past September, a really good sized boar. But being bear wise (lots of noise and clean camp) you'll likely not see any.
http://static.flickr.com/93/259122491_407b8ce9de.jpg
In my opinion, the grizzlies in the Bob Marshall, Great Bear and Scapegoat wilderness areas are what set them apart, and make them truly special places.
You'll have to let us know how your trip goes.