Big Spring Weekend Event 2024 30 miles south of West Yellowstone

Reservations are open for this unique & popular annual event. See above photo of the shallow slow moving river. Also see group photos by year in the website Past Events

Arrive Friday 2pm June 7or later and leave by 11am Monday or earlier.

This year it will be on a long weekend and with capacity of up to 20 people. Please read re rustic facility of the "Hut".

This is a very scenic paddle of about 3 or 4 hours in a shallow spring fed (constant temperature) small river. "Big Springs ... produces over 120 million gallons of water each day". At the put-in the water is only about 6" to 12" deep. During the first half hour people might get stuck on a gravel bar and may need to get out and walk the boat to a deeper channel. Wildlife: 100% chance of seeing trout, 50% chance of a bald eagle (which is watching you) and 30% chance of a moose.

Four years ago about 4 or us organizers and a few other members slept inside the hut on folding cots or air mattress and had a good time - protected from any weather or animals. Last year 9 out of 10 participants slept in camper vans or trailers.

Almost a year ago Steve put just under $500 on his personal credit card to reserve 6 nights at the Warming Hut - so that we could choose weekend nights vs. weekday nights at. While the weekend rental cost is higher, if split among more participants it might come out the same. A rough guess for the cost is about $95 per participant for the location (8 minutes from the river put in) and three main dishes. Participants contribute side dishes and BYOB. This seems to work well. Update: After discussing evening main dish food cost with Darla ... If we get 10 or more participants our per person cost will drop to about $75 so I've set that as the price . Note: One of our members reported that he/she tried but could not get the MeetUp payment system to work.

Feel free to simply pay by check (which also saves us $4 processing fees). Make it payable to Steve Hample and note Big Springs Trip.
Pay at the Bay happy hour or mail to:
Steve Hample 49 East Hodgeman Road Bozeman MT 59718

(We are using my old business checking account that now holds only Paddling group money. We did not have the minimum $1,000 to open an account and why pay to have checks printed.)

The put in site is small and quickly gets crowded (commercial guide trips and other paddlers). Launching more than about 8 boats at a time creates some vehicle and boat congestion. However we can adapt: If If we have 20 participants we could run alternate Saturday and Sunday launches (with the open day(s) for visiting the waterfalls and the entry to Harriman State Park) and / or paddle the upper fingers of the nearby reservoir.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ctnf/recarea/?recid=80612

The Warming Hut (built for snowmobilers) is just that: a large one room wooden building with a wood stove and benches and some large picnic tables. Two closets: one filled with firewood and we used the other for a changing room. There are a couple 110v outlets to recharge batteries and some rather dim overhead lights so bring Coleman type Lanterns and a flashlight for walks to the vault toilet. The Hut is about 200 yards from the road and out of sight. The parking area is the size a football field.

About 5 years ago Organizers Kerie, Darla, Vickie and Steve stayed in a former farm house at the Idaho Harriman State Park and scouted the area including area waterfalls (with a museum) and the Big Spring which comes from Yellowstone Park roughly 12 miles away.

A hiking / biking trail is about 100 yards from the Hut and follows a scenic old railroad line with a tunnel. Also a fire lookout tower; check for access.
https://yellowstoneshortlinetrail.org/history

Driving time from Bozeman is about 2.5 hours, through West Yellowstone to Island Park.

Large scenic waterfall about 50 min drive from Island Park
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ctnf/recarea/?recid=80612
Very tight parking! Arrive early

Idaho requires an Invasive species annual boat decal. Not expensive and for a good cause. Buy online ($7) in advance.
https://idfg.idaho.gov/info/boat-stickers
Don't be told to back to West Yellowstone in Montana and buy one at a sporting goods store.

Steve

For photos and other info, look for the "Upcoming Events" and click on "See All" on the right . Then click on "Past Events" and scroll back in time and look at photos.