Boulder, West,

above the campground

Usual Difficulty	IV-V (may vary with level)
Length	6 Miles
Avg. Gradient	150 fpm

Gauge Information

Name	Range	Difficulty	Updated	Level
Boulder River at Big Timber MT
usgs-06200000	1400 - 2500 cfs	IV-V	02h09m	155 cfs (rc= -1.1 )

River Description

The West Boulder is an excellent run in an a wild an incredibly beautiful setting. Start hiking up the trail at the end of the West Boulder Road. After a while you will come to a beautiful meadow with the river winding in wide s-curves down the center. The views from this meadow of the Absarokee Mountains are stunning and it is a great pleasure to float through them on the wind down from the drops found upstream. Continue on for a few more miles. The two major drops (V's) are easily scouted on the way up and are just as fun as they look from the trail. If the holes in the center and river right side of the biggest drop have you biting your nails and the fun factor appears low, you should probably leave this one alone. The other smaller 's-turns' drop runs very clean and is a hoot. We slid in just downstream of the river wide log... A bit further up the trail is an obvious gorged up section. Scout this thoroughly for wood and know that the hardest part about this gorge is the drops just upstream that are difficult to scout. We put in about a half mile above this first gorge and very soon found ourselves dropping into some chunky, threatening class V. Move slow through here... The river is fun, pretty fast, and the gorge and the two big drops are of very high quality. There are a couple of other really fun drops laced throughout the West boulder as well. You will know 'em when you see 'em. The hike is long (6+ miles) but not overly steep and the views are excellent the whole way. Enjoy.