The Boulder River is a tributary of the
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...
, approximately 60 mi (96 km) long, in south central
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Colum ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. It is one of two rivers named the
Boulder River in Montana.
It rises in the
Gallatin National Forest
The Gallatin National Forest (now known as the Custer-Gallatin National Forest) is a United States National Forest located in South-West Montana. Most of the Custer-Gallatin goes along the state's southern border, with some of it a part of North- ...
in the
Absaroka Range
The Absaroka Range ( or ) is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Va ...
in southern
Park County. It flows north through mountainous
canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to ...
s, a cataract under a natural bridge, and northwest in a widening valley past McLeod. It joins the Yellowstone at
Big Timber. The landscape of the Boulder River and river valley has merited the filming of two movies:
''A River Runs Through It'' and ''
The Horse Whisperer''.
Discharges
Tourism
The river is a popular destination for
fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight fishing lure, lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is Casting (fishing), cast using a fly rod, Fishing reel#Fly reel, reel, and specialized Fly line, weighted line. T ...
. Other attractions in the valley include several church camps, a
guest ranch
A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism.
History
Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...
, and several
USFS
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
campground
A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using ten ...
s. The
Forest Service also maintains several guard stations,
trailhead
A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...
s, and picnic areas in the valley.
Variant names
The Boulder River has also been known as: Rivers a Cross, Rivers across, and Rivers-across.
[ And, to distinguish it from the other Boulder River in Montana, it is sometimes called the "East Boulder River" (as it is east of the other) or the "Boulder Fork of the Yellowstone," parallel with the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone as differentiated from the Clark's Fork River of Western Montana.
]
See also
*List of rivers of Montana
The following is a partial list of rivers of Montana (U.S. state).
East of Continental Divide
Water in these rivers flows east and south from the Continental Divide of the Americas, also known as the Great Divide, into the Gulf of Mexico via t ...
*Montana Stream Access Law
The Montana Stream Access Law says that anglers, floaters and other recreationists in Montana have full use of most natural waterways between the high-water marks for fishing and floating, along with swimming and other river or stream-related a ...
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Montana
Rivers of Park County, Montana
Bodies of water of Sweet Grass County, Montana
Tributaries of the Yellowstone River