Distinctly Montana Magazine

2022 // Fall

Distinctly Montana Magazine

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w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 49 Long before rafters spent lazy days floating the North Fork, Native Americans from local tribes used the great river for hunting, gathering, and fishing grounds. A crucial mineral used in tool-making for the tribes is found near the river–Bowman chert is a rock used to make arrowheads and other essential tools for sur- vival. If you look hard enough in bordering forests of ponderosa pines, you can find scarred trees from where natives harvested the bark to extract its sweet cambium layer to eat. It's safe to say the North Fork has and will continue to be a place of peace and abun- dance for all to enjoy. Carving out Glacier Park's southern border is the Middle Fork of the Flathead. Starting in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the river is revered as a lo- cal favorite, and for good reason! Faster water with sections of interesting class II-IV rapids makes the river perfect for a day, or even a week-long trip. To start at the beginning of the Middle, one has to either fly or pack into the Bob Marshall Wilderness GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

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