blackfoot-valley

is the whimsically named Hoodoo Mountain, 7,200 feet in elevation, looming prominently above Helmville. It is forest covered except for clearcuts on its middle and upper slopes. The Valley itself is drained by two major streams, Nevada Creek coming from the southeast, skirting Ranch land a bit north of the main Ranch buildings, and the Blackfoot River, one of the nation’s finest trout streams. The two join less than a mile outside of Ranch property. The Black- foot then enters Ranch land itself, flowing entirely within the northern part of the Ranch for the next 3 1/4 miles. For another 2 miles, the banks of the river form the property line, making the total river length within the property at 5 miles. In the middle part of its course through the Ranch, the river has cut a small gorge with 100-foot bluffs on its eastern side. It would be grandeloquent to call it a grand canyon, so we might call it a “petite canyon.” It’s well worth taking a pleasant hike for half an hour from Wales Creek Road to see it and the Blackfoot River winding through it. (The Ranch’s separate northern section through which it flows, is still known informally by its earlier historic name, the Wales Ranch.) The elevation of the Blackfoot River at the upstream end of the gorge is precisely 4,200 feet above sea level, its water dropping from there to 4,154 feet at Raymond Bridge just 2.66 miles downstream. (This is measured on a USGS topographic map of the 7 1/2-minute series with a scale of 1:24,000 or about 2.6 inches to the mile). The river’s average drop in this stretch is 17.3 feet per mile, a steeper gradient than the stretch of lazy meanders on the flats two 14