Hat tip to eagle-eyed Chi Wulff compadre Quinn who emailed this over this afternoon. The author notes this section of the Gallatin was filmed where the river runs on the east side of 191 between the Corral Bar and Ophir School.
Everybody pay attention to your river this winter and be safe out there. Wading midriver downstream of a tight bend, with hearing dampened by warm winter headgear, would have been damned interesting when this wave popped around the corner.
Tags: Damn!
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
DAMN!
I’ve always seen the effects of these events but never one actually happening. WOW! Ice is a very powerful hydrological force. What do the fish do during these events?
Loblollylove – a small crick fly Fisher in Standpoint; Idaho.
The Power of God’s nature witnessed…incredible.
Thank you for sharing this…
Amen.
As my granddaughter would say. HOLY SMOKE!!
Where were you in 1959?
In west Texas, learning to crawl.
I was camped out with the girl scouts that night just north of the quake. We were order out of our tents and sat around the camp fire until the shaking like vibration of the earth beneath our feet stopped. Next morning during our walk we all noticed large cracks in the surface especially the roads. Denise
WOW! That is kind of amazing.
A friend of mine was camped at Hebgen Lake when the quake hit in ’59. His campsite was washed away by the wave that sloshed up on shore.
Do you fool not know about nature????
Tom, you must be right. None of these guys and gals, who spend day after day standing in water (creeks, cricks, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, bays, sounds, straights and oceans) fly fishing, know a damned thing about nature.
What do you recommend to bring them up to your level of expertise? The Nature Channel? MTV’s Buckwild? Junior Ranger coloring books?
And remember my friend, when you’re insulting someone it’s most helpful to use the correct grammar (it should be fools…).
You guys act like you’ve never seen a Montana River ice dam break before. How long you lived there?
Little over three hundred years. You?
1951 to 1964 and most summers after that. Still have a place on Flathead Lake but don’t visit as often as I want. My point was, these ice dams and breaches were common events in my day. Impressive, but not uncommon.
We had one of these in South Central Washington in 1995 when the Yakima froze and backed up behind where it dumps into the Columbia…
All of my 55 years and 3 gen before that. (Peeves me when people act like they’ve lived here their entire lives when they’ve been here 10 years or so.) I’ve seen ice jams, but never in motion like this! Incredible!
You go girl.
Pay attention and try not to get yourself killed pilgrim!!!!!
Love seeing nature in the raw and no man can contain it.
We only have hurricanes here in s.c. Thanks doti
Doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived here. Doesn’t make you smarter or better or someone who cares more about Montana (or even knows more about Montana). I don’t think most people would define these events as common. Seeing one of these is a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and you could be in Montana for decades and never see one.
I’m a Mt. Native of 70 years. Raised in Lincoln Mt. Moved to Missoula in1963. I have wittnessed the Ice jam floods 3 times on the Blackfoot river from Scotty Brown bridge, to the Bonner Mill Log dam. (now removed) 45 miles- Devistating~~to say the least. The Clarkfork River ice flow from Rock Creek to the Bonner Dam (now removed) twice. 1995 being the last time on that river. We watched the Ice flow down Rattlesnake Creek to the Clarkfork at Madison creek bridge by UM~~ It is incredialbe how much POWER Mother nature can provide w/ Ice & water. The sound alone makes the hair stand on you neck!! great video-