Rosebud Creek, East

East Rosebud Creek is perhaps the best Class V creek on the east side of the Montana Beartooth mountain range.  Many would argue that this distinction belongs to Big Timber Creek.  But the character of the East Rosebud is significantly different from Big Timber.  Big Timber is an unbelievable run with huge drops, but is pure “huck your meat.”  East Rosebud, on the other hand, offers 3 miles of continuous, non-stop Class 5 without any big falls.  If you enjoy continuous Class 5 and you are confident you can run it without rolling, the East Rosebud is unbelievably fun.  If you roll more than a few times, you probably are not going to enjoy this run.

SCOUT THE WHOLE RUN FOR WOOD. IT HAS BEEN FULL OF WOOD IN THE TOP HALF FOR SEVERAL YEARS.

The run starts at East Rosebud Lake, a community of summer homes.  Put in at the boat launch right next to the foot bridge.  There was a gage on the last bridge for automobiles but it was removed and not replaced a couple years ago when the new bridge was built.  The flow can now be gaged by looking at a big rock right in the middle of the river when you pass over this last bridge.  If the water is just going over this rock a little but the whole rock is wet, the flow is perfect.  This translates into a flow of about 3.0 on the old gage.  If rock is completely dry, you’ll be banging down rocks all the way down.  If the rock is underwater, get ready for full-on, continuous Class 5/5+.

The run really gets going about a quarter mile below the bridge.  Here, there is a huge, house sized rock in the river.  After this huge rock is the mankiest rapid on run.  Fight your way down this and the run then cleans up a little.  About a mile after this first rapid is the crux of the run, Cliffs of Insanity – marked by large cliffs on the river right.  The entrance has a dangerous piton rock.  After Cliffs there are two more big rapids before river calms down a little as you approach another bridge – the “Two Mile Bridge.”  This

...