The Blue Water Task Force of Big Sky, Montana hosted their second annual Upper Gallatin River Clean Up this morning. I was covering the event for a local newspaper and excited by the prospect of an assignment that put me out on the water for the morning.
An volunteer group 20+ strong gathered in Big Sky at 0930 and, after divvying up sections of the river, teams headed out for a morning of cleaning one of the area’s most heavily-used rivers. Everyone was in high spirits and enjoying the semi-crispness of the fall morning.
I trekked along with several groups throughout the morning; eventually settling a bit with two gentlemen who had the formidable task of hauling a large piece of scrap metal from the river. The bank was far too steep on one side to haul the heavy metal out, so after dislodging the pipe, the men hauled down a stand up paddle board, loaded up the pipe, and winched it down. A rope was thrown across the river and the paddle board released. What started out as a beautiful arc across the river soon turned to a semi-submersed vehicle. With some creative tugging, 
the tipped board soon came to rest on the far bank. With the help of a Teton Valley kayaker, the metal was retrieved from the river and hauled into the bed of a pickup truck.
Montana ingenuity strikes again.
It’s always refreshing to see people taking some ownership of these resources we enjoy so much. There are certainly worse things to do on a Saturday morning! No matter how knarly the garbage, we were still on the banks of the Gallatin River, fall color all about.
Not a bad morning at all.
