They all originate in canyons back in the Bear Tooth Ranges as they cut their way out of the mountains through steep sided gorges. The scenery is truly stunning, being colossal in scale.

All of these rivers rise in glacial lakes at the top of the Bear Tooth Range that is 13,200 feet above sea level, the highest in Montana.

Flowing south out of the Horseshoe Gap at the bottom is the two arms of the Snake River that then heads west through Idaho to the sea.

One arm is the Snake River running parallel to the Grand Teton Range, originating at Jackson Hole and the other arm is the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, flowing south and west out of the Horseshoe Gap to join the other arm of the Snake River.

The Henry’s Fork starts in Henry’s Lake near the left arm of the horseshoe of mountains. Sneaking out west through a gap between these two major drainages is the Madison.

Starting high in Yellowstone Park the Gibbon River joins the firehole to become the Madison that passes out past West Yellowstone township into Hegben Lake, Earthquake Lake and then west out into Idaho.

Over the hill from Red Lodge about 40 kilometres away is the Clark’s Fork. Huge farms irrigated by pivot irrigators produce alfalfa to feed cattle kept in feed lots and endless crops of corn fill the lush green villages that are surrounded by desert badlands.

Through all this flows the Clark’s Ford all the way back into the mountains, where it originates in the canyons. It enters the Yellowstone near Billings.

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