MISSOULA — Looking to float the river? First, you need to get upstream. That travel just got easier, with the return of the University of Montana’s free river shuttle this week.
The buses are back, thanks to a partnership with Mountain Line, after service was cancelled last summer.
Watch: People are happy for the return of the free summer river shuttles in Missoula:
The shuttle, which is free and open to the public, offers rides to two popular put-ins on the Clark Fork, Sha-Ron and Milltown State Park.
The shuttle aims to offer floaters a safe ride upstream while reducing traffic.
While waiting for the bus, plenty of long-time floaters said they were excited about its return. But the convenient ride also drew in some first-timers, like Terra Schaller.
“I’ve never floated the river,” Schaller said. “I was on the Mountain Line, or the bus, and it said that there was a free shuttle and I was super excited because that's what I wanted to do.”
Schaller just moved to Missoula and said the river feels like home to her. While Sunday was her first float, she plans to be a regular on the river and the river shuttle.
“I’m pretty excited to be floating anywhere,” she said. “I wanted to float the river from Bonner all the way down here and go back up and do it again. That sounds like a fun way to spend my summer.”
The river shuttles run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays until August 10. They leave on the hour right outside UM’s Campus Recreation.
In order to get as many people out on the water as possible, they ask riders to please deflate tubes.
More information about the free river shuttle can be found here.
