Not Much Wading on Way to Gorgeous Box Canyon Falls
Josy and Carol S left the DOB about 8 am in June’s car and met up with Viki Gallagher in Choteau about 9:15 am. This was a rescheduled hike, moved from Tuesday, June 15 to Wednesday, June 16. The drive up and back was uneventful despite driving from Dupuyer to the Muddy Creek trailhead on about 15 miles of gravel – perfect conditions for a flat tire. No flat tire thankfully.
Our hike up to the falls was a bit longer because we missed the old 2-track road trail that was about 100 feet from the gate. We turned right farther up and knew as we kept climbing up that we had erred. We made our way down the slope toward Muddy Creek following cow and wildlife trails to get back on track, following the correct trail and eventually making our way on the rocky creek bed. We had the trail to ourselves and the daytime temperature was perfect! We were concerned about the wind. We were hiking into a head wind, which is not ideal in a box canyon that is frequented by grizzly bears.
The creek bed was dry for quite a while. Because the going was slow with uneven rocks and lots of zig-zagging from left-to-right across the dry creek bed, it was difficult to judge how far we had gone before we finally heard and saw water in the creek, but we eventually did. As we followed the trail from one side of the creek to the other, the canyon got narrower and narrower and the sound reverberating from the falls got closer and louder. The falls is about 2 miles from the trailhead, but it seemed longer. No wading was required, only needed to occasionally go through ankle deep water. We saw very little sign of bear and did plenty of talking and calling out as we hiked in.
The Muddy Creek Falls was as spectacular as expected and a new thrilling sight for Carol and Viki. We enjoyed the mist, the sound, the sight, and the uniqueness of the box canyon and the falls while we had our lunch. On our way up, we had tied orange ribbons to key junctions to visually mark our way back down and then gathered the ribbons as we made our way back to the 2 miles to our car. Our great day was celebrated with a stop for ice cream in Choteau. Perfect. Yum!
June Sprout
Our hike up to the falls was a bit longer because we missed the old 2-track road trail that was about 100 feet from the gate. We turned right farther up and knew as we kept climbing up that we had erred. We made our way down the slope toward Muddy Creek following cow and wildlife trails to get back on track, following the correct trail and eventually making our way on the rocky creek bed. We had the trail to ourselves and the daytime temperature was perfect! We were concerned about the wind. We were hiking into a head wind, which is not ideal in a box canyon that is frequented by grizzly bears.
The creek bed was dry for quite a while. Because the going was slow with uneven rocks and lots of zig-zagging from left-to-right across the dry creek bed, it was difficult to judge how far we had gone before we finally heard and saw water in the creek, but we eventually did. As we followed the trail from one side of the creek to the other, the canyon got narrower and narrower and the sound reverberating from the falls got closer and louder. The falls is about 2 miles from the trailhead, but it seemed longer. No wading was required, only needed to occasionally go through ankle deep water. We saw very little sign of bear and did plenty of talking and calling out as we hiked in.
The Muddy Creek Falls was as spectacular as expected and a new thrilling sight for Carol and Viki. We enjoyed the mist, the sound, the sight, and the uniqueness of the box canyon and the falls while we had our lunch. On our way up, we had tied orange ribbons to key junctions to visually mark our way back down and then gathered the ribbons as we made our way back to the 2 miles to our car. Our great day was celebrated with a stop for ice cream in Choteau. Perfect. Yum!
June Sprout
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