That float is around 28 miles by river. All need to be aware of the time line to get to town, the last ones tried @ 7pm and they got out close to Miles City @ 6am, 2miles short. Due the math.

People think, hmmm, it is called "12 mile" therefore it is 12 miles from town. Well, yes, but the river winds and wanders and is full of oxbows so it takes longer than you expect because the route you are taking is not direct. Plus the Tongue doesn't zip along that fast even in high water.

I think of childhood friends....and the dreams we had...

FH

A friend of mine floated from 12 mile last weekend.He said there's one place where erosin has left part of a barbwire fence hanging in the channel.Just a heads up to those contemplating the voyage.

I'll do the math.

7 p.m. to 6.a.m. = 11 hrs
28 miles - 2 miles = 26 miles
26 miles/11 hrs = 2.4 mph

I'm actually surprised that the Tongue is flowing that fast, it being August.

I tried to float the Tounge once when I was in HS and like many before me and many after me...I failed. I think I floated for roughly 8 hrs and got out of the river on a farm somewhere around 6 miles (highway miles) outside of town. We hitchhiked back to town.

Super cool float though...saw tons of wildlife. Bull snakes swimming, a heron catching a bass, turtles up the wazoo....pretty cool. I remember it well, I even remember Donnelly stealing the bass from the heron. Or was it Stabio? That part I don't remember...my traveling companion.

I did that float a couple times in my youth...and also jumped off the railroad bridge at "Paragon Pit" along the way.

What I remember is that it took most of a day and the current was moving pretty slow. Our group would get out of the water, grab our tubes and run across gravel bars to shorten the trip a bit.

It was a pretty good time to enjoy the sun and hang with the friends, though.

Don't know what you guys mean by "floating", but my wife and I dropped our canoe in at the dam at straight up noon last week, with one paddel......and arrived at the KOA campground where we had the 2nd vehicle parked at quarter to eight. I didn't work too hard, but paddled to steer and avoid rocks most of the way. Total trip time 7 hours, 45 minutes...which encluded a fifteen minute snack break and a half hour cat fishing along the way. It's the third time we've done it in the last 10 years.

You fished for cats? Catch any?

Plenty of bites...mostly little bitty fellas.

get a canoe or kayak.. it makes the trip shorter

Plenty of bites...mostly little bitty fellas

You fished for kittens?!?!?! That's just wrong.

floating referring to inner tubes...and Shu Paragon Pit is on the Yellowstone not the tounge. Good jump

I think Shu was just mentioning the jump at Paragon Pits as another "rite of passage" like floating from Twelve Mile.

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...gotcha

Mule Train. You got to a farm and caught a a ride with a guy who had just broke into the ranch home and stole some gas. He left some money on the table to pasy for it. You were with Sean Donnelly. I heard about the great gas robbery after. It never made the paper so evidentyly the rancher was okay with it.

I think muley put in at our house (~7 miles south) one time with Stabio and Donnelly - how many times did you try and float the tongue anyways?

And I remember another time where we were going to float the Yellowstone but the tube (or the raft) had a leak, so we jumped off of Paragon instead.

Of course, there's no procreating way I'd let my kids do such a thing...

I did try a few times...always unsuccessfully. I needed a canoe.

I remember kids swimming at the dam. One fellow who currently owns the local camera shop dived head first and broke his neck. Shallow in those days!!!

I went to the dam after many years away and was surprised to see it had changed so much. Had many a great days swimming and camping at the dam. Does anyone remember the cable car just above the dam. You could ride the car all the way across the river, we would ride it halfway and jump off it then shimmy out the cable to bring the car back. You could get under the spillway and walk clear across the face of the dam under the water spilling over the dam. We did floats but a canoe is the way to go.

If you try to float it do it in a canoe not a rubber raft, the raft trip would take all night and day. I remember it being all day in a fast canoe, definitely an extra beer trip (2 cases min.) but it's fun and a lazy way to spend a day.

Yeah, I remember that (referring to mule train's message from 8/5/11... it's been a while since I checked this board). 8th grade, spring of 1987. I don't remember the part about the heron and the bass, but I do remember the bull snake. I got out of the river and caught it after it climbed up the bank. Turned it loose after a couple of minutes though. I forgot about the "gasoline heist" until I saw Betty's comment. Just to be clear, it was the college kid who gave us the ride back into town that stole the gallon of gas (not John and me). I guess you could say we were complicit. At the time, I mostly just wanted to get some water that was safe to drink and to take care of the nasty sunburn I'd acquired that day.

[This message has been edited by Sean D. (9/2/2011)]