Blackfoot, North Fork
Foot Bridge to Road Bridge (Hike In)
| Difficulty | IV |
| Length | 5.3 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Nf Blackfoot R Ab Dry Gulch Nr Ovando Mt |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 787 cfsmedium runnable |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 6, 2025 |
River Description
The North Fork of the Blackfoot is a Missoula area creeking staple for those willing to hike. It offers kayakers and packrafters a long season, excellent whitewater and scenery, and a character that changes dramatically with flows. At low flows (200-650) it offers really nice Class III/IV creek boating and ideal advanced packrafting. At medium flows (650-1200) The North Fork is creeky but powerful class IV with one V-. Flows over 1,200 result in a big water feel and it becomes a big fast wave train with some vital hole and wood dodging. Lower water runs should watch out for abundant/excessive fly fishing traffic, who are often not on the lookout for boats.
As you hike up, the whitewater ends 1/3 of a mile above the pack bridge. The N Fork from there to the next pack bridge just above the Dry Fork confluence is class II-. The steep (~700 feet/mile) gorge below North Fork Falls is V/V+ and can be accessed via the steep and loose gully on the north side, just west of the side trail to the fall lookout.
The N Fork above the falls is floatable all the way to Carmichael in the late spring and early summer, and offers fast and nervous floating with lots of wood, willows, and a few beefy bedrock drops.
River Features
Put In / Launch Area
Park at the trailhead and hike up as far as you want. The whitewater begins shortly upstream of the pack bridge and extends continuously to the take out bridge. Note that there are large unrunnable drops upstream of the Dry Fork confluence (which is upstream of the packbridge / normal put in)
Six Pin Rapid
This rapid is the standout rapid on this reach.
It can catch wood so it's worth a scout.
Two options:
- As you're walking upstream, you should be able to scout it from above if you offtrail to the east ~20 feet as you pass the wilderness boundary sign.
- There are fairly good eddies just above this rapid and it's easy to get good eyes on the rapid from shore.
Put In Trailhead Parking
Park at this trailhead and start your several-mile hike upstream
Take Out Bridge
Park and take out just downstream of the Cooper Blackfoot Rd Bridge at the informal but nice take-out. This is far preferable to taking out at the Trailhead which would require a scramble out of the canyon and missing some great paddling. It is easy to just walk a quick shuttle to the trailhead from this takeout.
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportHad a great evening run. Heads up, there's a head-height 8' to 12' diameter log sticking halfway across Six Pin from river right, about halfway through the rapid, with most of the river pushing you into it. There are also a few other high consequence strainers in that area (river right) if you were to take a good swim and get flushed over there.
Other than that, the run is pretty clear of wood, though stay alert, there are a few other places where logs are sticking out around waterlevel.
Great evening run! We saw some wood in pinball rapid and chose not to portage it.
Great day on the North Fork at a pretty ideal low side of medium flow. Lots of good boofs, eddies, and pillows to play off of. Great level for packrafting and intermediate kayaking.
1380 cfs. Log in right channel mid way down
Ran this at ~750 on the gauge on 7/3/2020. One tiny piece of wood in play in the runout of 6-pin, but otherwise clean as a whistle. Great little run, high bang for the hiking buck.
The old gage is back!
Has anybody been up to look at the river this year? With this new gauge and the statement that it can be run at 210 I am wondering how the new gauge correlates to the old. Any Beta would be appreciated.
Super fun day on 7/11/17 at around 450cfs!
Ran the upper stretch on 5/12/2012 at 1300 cfs or so. Six Pin has some new wood (at least new to me) stacked up above the crux on the river right side that significantly restricts the line. It's still runnable, but basically zero room for any error going into the crux move at the end of the rapid and the wood hangs out right where the flow pushes you off the right bank. It wouldn't be as big of an issue at lower flows - say around 1000 cfs or below. The log jam mentioned below a ways down from Six Pin is still there, but has an open line on the left side that you can't see until you're right on top of it - we verified it's wide open after portaging though.