Cedar Flats River Access

RM 55.8 · 47.8552° N, 113.4297° W
360° capture coming
Not part of the current capture. Photos and survey data only.
Audio description

A narrated walk-through of this site: the ramp, the gaps, the surfaces, and the hazards, read from the survey.

Read the transcript
Cedar Flats, on the South Fork of the Flathead, at river mile 55.8.

Downstream from here is South Fork.

The Flathead Rivers Alliance has not published measured survey data for this site yet, so the details that follow come from the site description rather than from field measurements.

What to watch for, in the survey crew's own words:

Steep foot trail with hundreds of steps required to access water level.

There are no facilities at this site.

This site has not been photographed in 360 yet, so there is no immersive imagery to accompany this description.

Conditions on the Three Forks change quickly. Check the gauge the morning you float.
Today on the South Fork
3,530cfs → holding
192% of the 105-year median for July 30
71° Clear
Wind 1 mph NE Tomorrow
92° 64°
USGS 12362500 NR COLUMBIA FALLS · BELOW DAM · Weather Hungry Horse

The site

This site provides river access to the Wild section of the South Fork Flathead via a steep foot trail from a marked vehicle pull off/parking area with hundreds of steps down to a pebbled beach.

Access concerns

Recorded verbatim by the FRA field crew

  • Steep foot trail with hundreds of steps required to access water level

Terrain360 Lens · coverage status

Access-site lens

Assessment pending

No assigned Terrain360 panorama sequence or reviewed FRA assessment sheet is available for this access site in the current release. This is a coverage gap, not a finding about site conditions.

Getting there

From Hungry Horse, turn south off US Highway 2 onto the East Side Reservoir Road, Forest Road 38, half a mile east of town, and drive through Martin City. The pavement ends after two miles. Stay on the gravel 53 miles to the junction with the West Side Reservoir Road, Forest Road 895, turn right and go 1.5 miles to the Meadow Creek Road, Forest Road 2826, then turn left. The marked pull off is near milepost 11, and the river is a steep quarter-mile foot trail below it. Forest Road 38 closes between mileposts 37 and 53 from December 1 to May 14 for winter wildlife.

Open in maps
Measured access FRA field survey

This site has not been engineering-surveyed yet. FRA adds measurements as staff and volunteers complete them.

Parking + facilities No facilities
South Fork · where this site sits River flows this way →
Elevation profile of the South Fork: 3,577 feet at river mile 39 near the confluence rising to 4,706 feet at river mile 97.6, a drop of 1,129 feet over 58.6 miles, averaging 19.3 feet per mile.
4,706 ft RM 97.6 1,129 ft of drop · 19.3 ft per mile average 3,577 ft confluence

Elevation sampled from USGS 10m along the Wild & Scenic centerline. Hover or focus a site to see the panorama closest to the water.

Upstream WILD · BOB MARSHALL COMPLEX Downstream · RM 46.5 South Fork → 9.3 mi of river

The Three Forks flow through the homelands of the Séliš, Ql̓ispé, and Ktunaxa peoples, frequented by the Amskapi Piikani. About the homelands