Gates of the Mountains Boat Tour in MT.

We recently took a Sunday and went for a drive. We needed some time away from home and to get away with our new little addition. So off we went and headed towards Helena MT. We decided to do some rock hounding and see were we ended up. Well after a successful time collecting some rock specimens we headed up to the Gates of the Mountains boat tour. Boy it was fun. We were expecting some cheesy tour guide and a quick run up the valley.

The tour costs $11.00 per adult and Sophia was free. It takes about 2 hours on the boat, so you will want to bring some drinks and sun screen. A water cooler with cups is available if you don't bring your own beverage though. There's a small store you can buy a pop at when purchasing your tickets also. We waited in line until the next tour boat docked and all passengers were off loaded. Then off we went!

I think we really lucked out with our tour guide. He was a gentleman in his early 60's and wow did he know his stuff. He said he was a science teacher and loved that aspect of the tour. Dan and I both love science and so really enjoyed his tour.

You start at the Gates of the Mountains entry. It's a beautiful entry with high sheer rocks on both sides.

Along the way there are a couple natural animal rock formations. A Monster with it's mouth open, a elephant and a crocodile.

There were some really neat Indian pictographs too. They were in the cliffs along the water. It's was very interesting hearing how the Indians created the paints and that each generation would paint over the previous paintings. Some paintings are thought to be over 500 years old.

The tour guide told a sad story about a devastating fire that killed 13 people. Called the Mann Gulch Fire. You can see with the box canyon how easily it got out of control and the fire fighters had no place to go.

Along the way there were so many plants and flowers to see. The rock cliffs had layer upon layer of different rocks, with portions of up thrust. There are some bald eagle nests along the way, and as you can see we saw some mountains goats. There were some kids and the one here is nursing. Her little tail was going a mile a minute. A very happy baby goat!

A bit of unexpected excitement too!

It was a wonderful tour. You take well over an hour going up stream, then you come back down to a public boat dock were you can get off for 10 minutes and use the out house or just walk. This picnic area is only accessible by water and is a beautiful spot. The neat thing is you can get off and stay for the day and catch the last tour boat home. Every boat stops there. Along the way there are also a couple camp spots that are only accessible by boat. The boat ride back was fast. He went at a pretty good clip and be warned if your sitting near the front you get a lot of water spray. Dan was pretty wet.

Then driving home we saw a couple or Osprey nests with a bunch or young. It was a wonderful day! If you live in Mt or plan to come sometime go and take a few hours and do this tour. It's a few miles from Helena the state capital.