BIG HORN ANATOMY OF A FIRST DESCENT

Although there are no rules for finding first descents, there are some rules of thumb. Impossible access, political instability, or backyard micro drainages with tiny flow windows are all good bets for a modern First D. Erik Boomer, Nouria Newman, and Ben Stookesberry’s exploratory descents of the Tongue River and Big Goose Creek in the Big Horn Mountains are none of those things. Yet somehow, in eight days of kayaking, the team was the first to descend 7000 vertical feet of jaw-dropping and mostly runnable whitewater in the middle of America.

Words: Ben Stookesberry

To say the Big Horn Mountains are remote or isolated would be to ignore the literal ‘X Marks the Spot’ formed by I-25 and HWY 14 a few hours east of Yellowstone, leaving me confused as to how the main stems of the two largest rivers in the Big Horn remained un-attempted. That was until I began posting photos from a scout mission on social media. Montana Surf author Nick Turner was the first to define general sentiment toward the area: the rivers in the Big Horns are manky with a capital "M," and the deep, steep, un-run canyons are more water flowing under rocks than over them. In other words, the Big Horn’s reputation created a perfect milieu for full-on exploratory kayaking, practically in my backyard. “I feel like…

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Kayak Session (Digital) - 1 Issue, Winter 2018

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