Middle Fork Salmon

The 6 night 7 day float down this 'bucket list' river in Idaho with four other terrific people will be remembered for the crystal clear waters, rock dodging maneuvers, thrilling rapids, wildlife sightings, and beautiful wilderness.

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Middle Fork Salmon 2024

20240712 - three days before put in

Eric David revealed that he'd contracted COVID. It seems to be making a comeback as I've heard of other cases. There was a scramble. Suggestions were made where Eric would release the permit and we'd all work online to pick it up. Several members planning on coming dropped out. Steve, in what appeared to be genuine support for Eric to participate, suggested we depart the day before launching, Sunday, to allow Eric to see if he's feeling up to going. Eric agreed to travel by himself and elected to leave on Saturday afternoon so he could participate in the Sunday 4PM campsite selection at the put in. Eric would pick up the groover in Hailey, ID. That meant our group would consist of Eric David, Steve Levinger, Nick Kot, Erin Strasser, and myself. In hindsight this would be a comfortable relaxed congenial group sized for campsite flexibility and good mutual river support.

20240714 - departure day

Up at 4AM - ouch. I drove to Fort Collins meeting Nick Kot and Steve Levinger to load Steve's van and trailer. Together we made our way to La Porte to pick up Erin at 7AM. We met Erin's folks staying there to take care of Erin's menagerie in her absence. Now for the long travel day to reach the put in at Boundary Creek boat launch and ranger station on the Middle Fork River. Steve and I shared the driving. We stopped in Challis, ID, at the Village Inn for dinner; suspicions abound in our group about the restaurant, but I think it turned out to be surprisingly great - I'd definitely stop there again. A fire burned south of Stanley in sight of the Sawtooth Mountains; later a person on a commercial float we met at Sunflower Hot Springs that had flown into Stanley said the fire had expanded and that the airport had a fleet of aircraft to battle it. We arrived at the Boundary campsite around 9PM were we connected with Eric - at a safe COVID distance. The camp was filled with boaters.

20240715 - put in day

I rose around 7AM to find Eric finishing breakfast and the campground rapidly emptying as people headed down to launch boats. We weren't in a rush happy to let others clear away from the boat launch.

We walked over to Dagger Falls to see it. Back at camp the shuttle drivers showed up looking for our vehicles seemingly anxious to be on the road. We quickly rigged gear, but still had a little wait for the long line of commercial and private boats ahead of us. An opportunistic ground squirrel chewed a hole in Eric's lunch dry bag while it sat next to the Ranger Station. Wheel barrels were available to transport gear down a path to the river. Soon we slid the rafts down the wood very steep 50 meter long boat launch with help from other boaters. We were the last to push off onto the crystal clear cool waters of the Middle Fork around noon with the objective to float a bit before having lunch.

We were presented with a blue sky, temperatures maybe in the mid 70's, and the river flowing at 2.05ft making it bony. Dodging rocks began from the moment my oars touched the water. I began working to improve my oar shifting and to avoid catching the downstream oar on rocks. On one rapid, the downstream oar got knocked out of the oar lock and, retained by the safety strap, floated partially under the raft. This required me letting go of the second oar and hanging partially out of the boat to retrieve the oar in the water and re-insert it in the oar lock. Of course this was done all the while in the midsts of more rocks and rapids. The raft ran a couple small drops backward as a result.

Hell's half mile rapid wasn't hard save for the start because of a very narrow entrance created by rocky flood debris washed down a stream on river right. Velvet rapid had a tricky very narrow entrance as well which required passing to the left of a river center rock then turning right 90 degrees immediately with a sloping rock wall on the left. Next one needed to move left to avoid a large pour over with an immediate right to avoid piling up on rock. It was a tricky set of moves. Erin swam after going over the pour over. Nick hit her pack raft to river right where Erin was able to quickly jump back in.

Our planned campsite this first night was at Saddle. We pulled over slightly upstream and scouted the area. The site is still primitive suggesting few people have camped there. It's only suitable for very small groups. The team consensus was not keen on staying. So, we ferried across the river to inspect Boot camp finding it was worse. At 6PM the decision was made to continue downstream. Eric pointed river left to a boulder strewn sand bar just upstream from the Powerhouse class III-IV rapid. We chose to camp on the sand bar. Steve made a delicious dinner of rice, chicken and vegetables. Eric is doing OK recovering from COVID.

20240716

We'd placed the groover on the trail along the river not expecting any hikers. This morning though two guys happened by while we were breaking camp. We ended up seeing and chatting with them multiple times during the day as we both made our way down river. My last sighting of them was as they stood at the confluence of Indian Creek and the Middle Fork seemingly pondering how to cross Indian Creek.

Immediately after putting on the river we entered Powerhouse rapid; a half-mile class IV rapid that kept us on our toes. I was shivering due to the cool damp breeze flowing down the river so I put on my dry top. The first 25 miles of the river have a steep gradient of 40 feet per mile creating essentially non-stop white water and rapids. We didn't do any scouting. As we progressed down, we pulled over a couple of times to let sweep boats pass. We stopped at Sheepeater hot springs soaking in the almost too hot water. We enjoyed a relaxing lunch at the exit of Rapid River rapid just below Rapid River finding some shade in a large Ponderosa. Eric noticed the bush next to us had some mature service berries - we enjoyed some of them.

The day started on the cool side but turned into a warm sunny day. The steady gradient of the river reminded me of the Mountain River in Canada though with the class III to IV rapids not present on the Mountain.

Mid afternoon found us pulling over river right to scout Pistol Rapid along side a group we'd launched from Boundary with. They were returning to their boats saying the lower water level permitted pulling over further down river for the scout. We followed them. However, the rapid just before the pullout was a bit challenging with a shallow stretch river center followed by a sharp left turn up against a rock wall; Steve was having to walk his boat over the shallow stretch freeing himself just as I came down on the left; we almost met at the drop and rock wall but fortunately I made the left through a big standing wave just in front of him. Immediately after this rapid we pulled out on river right to scout Pistol Rapid. This rapid has a river center rock that took a shot out of my right oar. I'd shifted the left oar and didn't raise the right one high enough so it hit the last part of the rock river center. Despite this one hiccup, we all managed to run down this left side river tongue perfectly. The S-turn afterward was a non-event at this water level. Many people were standing on the river right rocks below the first drop with throw bags just in case. Apparently the commercial outfits prefer to run it down the shallow river right channel.

I'm impressed by the sweep boats that seem unique to this river. I'm curious how they navigate rapids like Pistol and the shallow water sections.

We were checked in at Indian Creek by a young female ranger. We didn't have the required shovel, but she let us go since some of us were in kayaks. It was a nice beach at the Indian Creek ranger station, but fully packed with boats from commercial outfitters.

The steady sun after only two days is starting to sunburn my wrists in the gap between my gloves and dry top; I need to come up with a solution.

The volume of water has increased making for a relaxing class I drift on down to our campsite at Anderson. It's a nice campsite with a sandy beach (at this level) to pull out onto. There is a short steep climb up to the site with mature tall ponderosas. The camp only accommodates a few tents. Erin provide a tasty cold noodle asian peanut dinner with pickles.

Eric suggested things I might do to improve the oar set up with a focus on improving the shifting of both oars at the same time.

20240717

We enjoyed a very lazy start to the day.

Many many noisy planes flew overhead landing and taking off from the Indian Creek airport between 7:30-10:30 AM. The water level is too low for the commercial outfitters to start at Boundary so they deadhead equipment from Boundary to Indian Creek where customers fly in to start their river adventure.

Erin caught a fish this morning; a Western Cutthroat. We pushed off from camp around 11AM

paddling to Sunflower Hot Springs. Along the way near Marble Creek we past a sweep boat that we initially thought was stranded but it turned out was 'eddied' out next to the beach campsite. The camp was set up with chairs perfectly lined up in rows. A little further down river and Ski Jump rapid behind us we came to Sunflower hot springs and our camp for the night. The four self support kayakers that passed us as we launched this morning were enjoying the springs.

Sunflower Camp and hot springs is a spa and water park all in one. A log juts out over a very deep pool acting as a dive platform. Nick took advantage of this multiple times. The hot springs have cascading pools of water of decreasing temperature down a rocky outcrop before some of the water is channeled down a partially hollowed out log forming a 12 foot solid shower water stream. Pick the hot pool of your temperature preference or get a hot water massage standing under the water shower. Eric made a wonderful selection in this camp site.

We shared the springs during the day with two commercial trips that pulled over. On one of these, I met Paul Brit the lead with the Sobek commercial outfit; he knows Ned Perry.

We played a game of scrabble. I told everyone they could use my battery and solar panels to charge their devices. Erin asked to recharge her iphone. My solar battery drained quickly only getting Erin's phone to a 28% charge. I can see the battery needs a full day with good sun on the solar panels to get if functioning properly again.

The day grew hot, but then clouded in the mid afternoon before the sun crept out in the early evening for a couple of hours.

20240718

We launched at 9:30AM this morning. Before that, most folks found some time to soak in the hot springs one last time.

We passed under several bridges today. We allowed a sweep boat driven by a woman to pass. It was another beautiful sunny day that become hot. No serious rapids were encountered today from mile 33 to 56, but plenty of splashy drops. The long paddle today grew out of the short one yesterday. The steady gradient gave us the chance to shift the oars, sit back, and watch the scenery float by. Nick boofed and surfed all day. We stopped for lunch on a small beach next to a deep channel with some shade. We encountered Chukar birds along the banks.

Once settled at Upper Grouse campsite, Steve and Erin walked over to the Lower Grouse camp and chatted with the folks there. The group was composed of nurses and other medical professionals from Boise.

We walked in the twilight to a homestead cabin next to the creek. Somebody still uses the place. The door wasn't locked but the place was filled with goods, flatware and furniture as if the owner could be back any moment. The creek behind the cabin is beautiful. I find it encouraging that the cabin could be left open full of supplies and things and nobody disturbs it.

We sat in camp next to the river waiting for the nearly full moon to rise. It wouldn't be visible for long as it's path just passed through the fork of the canyon.

20240719

In the early morning, I saw a deer grazing across the river. During the day we saw many more Chukars.

The rapids started immediately. I had to have us eddy out so I could inflate the raft. It was too soft making it difficult to maneuver in the faster water.

We stopped to scout two rapids almost back-to-back: Tappan Falls and Cove Creek both class III-IV. On the second rapid the nurses eddied out behind us and watched us run it. We cleared both rapids as planned with no issues. The first required running on river right and, because of a rock just upstream of the entrance, required a number of last second adjustments to get on the right entrance point. The second bigger splashy rapid had the entrance just left of river center between two large boulders jutting out of the water. The crux on this one was to stay left of a large jagged pour over river center, but this turned out to be easy since the main current carried the boats around it naturally. I believe my dry bag hadn't been closed properly or it eased open. On this second rapid I hit a wave slightly sideways partially soaking me and sending water into the bag. I spent the next few hours drying stuff out and lamenting that the one time the bag should have been sealed it was open. Fortunately the water didn't damage the ipad. The worst was the extra cash stored at the bottom of the bag that become soaked; it stayed soaked until I dried it at home on the kitchen counter a week later.

It snuck up on us, so only Erin and I managed to pull over for the "Shark Fin Rock" pictographs. Everybody else graciously stopped on an island 200 meters down river and waited while Erin and I made the short climb up to see the pictographs. The name shark fin is apt as several rocks in the area looked like shark fins laying sideways. One partially in the river where we'd pulled over had a half dozen fish swimming in the shade of the partially submerged rock. The clear water, fish, sandy bottom, and lighting made this place beautiful. Only a few pictographs are present.

We ran many rapids over the day. At this water level they involve weaving the rafts through the rock gardens. It was splashy and fun. We traveled from mile 56 to 72.

We stopped at the Flying B ranch for water, beer, and ice cream. After the Flying B we entered a jagged steep beautiful canyon with dramatic lighting. A sprinkle from some dark clouds wetted us from above very briefly.

I enjoyed a little chuckle of pride at a small unmarked rapid just above the Pool campsite. Seemed Nick boofed just about every rock he come upon. He would practice his rolls. This time Nick was playing in the river and got flipped. There on the side of the river at the campsite was a commercial outfitter group. The folks were all lined up side-by-side with chairs in the water's edge cooling their feet with drinks in hand watching us pass. They let out a collective "gasp" when Nick flipped. But of course, Nick rolled right back up - rather impressive!

A tad further, Nick tested the depth of the water pool just across from the Pool campground with the idea of jumping off the cliff. He accomplished this by rolling in the kayak and whilst upside down reached down with his paddle to touch the bottom. Then he rolled back up to report the depth. Must be something to be so comfortable upside down in a kayak full of gear!

The campsite tonight at Wilson Creek is beautiful. We walked down to the creek and swam a little in the river.

Steve made dinner again tonight. Since some folks had bailed on coming, we made up for it by serving meals intended for more a second time.

My right shoulder is starting to pop and hurt more. Exercising and stretching help it.

20240720

The wildlife we saw today: big horn sheep, spruce grouse, bald eagle, and an otter. One could hear Canyon Wrens singing in the lower section of this river. I kept looking for them, but never spotted one.

In an impromptu move, we pulled over to see the waterfall of Waterfall Creek just above the confluence with Big Creek. There is a small but substantial bridge here for the riverside trail to pass over Waterfall Creek which provides a nice viewing spot of the waterfall. The trail itself then passes over a large bridge that spans the Middle Fork and continues up Big Creek. The Middle Fork river cuts a steep canyon from here onward making it impassable for the river side trail to continue down river.

We stopped at Veil falls. The hike up to the falls is a must as you can't see the misty water falling from the river or enjoy standing under the cooling water shower. Plenty of poison ivy was growing in the area prompting caution. We continued playing leap frog with the group of nurses we met at Upper Grouse campsite. They were visiting the falls at the same time.

Erin and Nick seem to enjoy each other's company floating together often.

Erin got flipped and swam today below what I believe was the Redside Rapid (class III-IV). She got separated from her boat. Nick and Eric pushed it to the side. Erin climbed over some large rocks river left and then jumped into the river to float past a cliffy section to get to her boat. The entrance to this rapid aimed you directly toward a large boulder requiring a pull to the left, but then another downstream boulder required either a pull to the right or left; I opted to go right around the boulder. At the pace of the river at this level, the movements left and right were easy to accomplish.

We'd stopped just above this rapid for lunch and to scout. As we pulled out to have lunch and scout I slipped on the slimy rocks just below the water's surface. Unfortunately I went down fast and hard jamming my right thumb, scrapping my forearm, and doing something to my shoulder. The thumb made it a little painful and difficult to row. On the plus side, nothing broke. This was a case of moving water right up to the river's edge and me rushing off the front of the boat to secure it before the boat floated away from the rocky shoreline.

We then scouted Weber Rapid just below Redside. It was difficult to see which way to go from the water. In the end, it was splashy with a large initial drop, but a straight line slightly river left to center.

Today upstream from Ouzel we passed nearly a house size boulder in the clear deep river water. It was impressive to see it looming out of the blue-green depths.

The campsite tonight was Ouzel. A dozen or so mountain sheep nibbling greeted us as we arrived at the campsite. There were a number of very cute yews. They all casually moved along the stream in the upriver direction as we exited our boats.

This was another clear warm to hot day with a hint of smoke in the air. We traveled from mile 72 to 89. This is our last night on the Middle Fork.

20240721

Today we leave the Middle Fork.

We passed through a number of rapids today, but are getting better at reading them so we didn't scout. One in particular you had to commit to either the right or left because of a large boulder basically river center. Steve led and chose the right. It involved some maneuvering and then we could see that the left was more of a straight shot, but who knew!

On another rapid, Erin took what looked like a challenging swim. The bulk of the current pushed up against a rock before turning right. This was the only rock I piled the raft up against on the trip. Fortunately, the current gently pushed the raft off to the right. Erin flipped near the top of the rapid and prepared herself to possibly get pinned on the same rock, but she also got carried to the right. Eric towed her to the shore in the pool at the bottom. Her boat took a bewildering path into a tight eddy canyon of boulders with steep sides on river left. I pulled over, proceeding to climb over big rocks to retrieve the boat, and as I did so, Nick managed to find his way into this eddy. Luckily there was a passage out of the eddy just wide enough for a kayak. Nick gracefully exited that way which happened to be to river left of the boulder Erin and I had bounced off of.

This rapid must have been a problem for others as I found not one, but two nice throw ropes left there. The mystery of how boaters in the past managed to leave their throw bags will never by answered. I asked at the takeout if they belonged to anyone with a negative reply.

I confess to have grown complacent watching out for Nick. He played and worked the river with great skill occasionally flipping, but also rolling back up - even fully loaded with gear! So when a faint whistle could be heard upstream behind all of us it came as a surprise. We'd just past the confluence of the Middle and North Forks and now sat on the Main Salmon river. There is an unmarked and unnamed rapid with the biggest standing waves seen yet here. It seems the waves gave Nick a thrilling ride because he found himself upside, unable to roll, and then out of his boat swimming. He had to perform a self-rescue because we were all downstream!

Eric called for us to scout the last rapid of our journey: Cramer Creek Rapid (class III-IV). Good thing we did, because the wrong line on this wide river (and there were many) could have unhappy consequences. Our chosen line was very splashy, bouncy, and basically straight forward.

And around the final corner we arrived at Cache Bar Boat Ramp - our destination. We started near 5654ft and ended at 2976ft traveling ~100 miles.

It suited me that Eric had contracted COVID. It meant only five of us on the river. We all got along splendidly. We could fit into even the smallest campsites. Our pace was relaxed and casual. Any changes took place organically. We always seemed to be on the same page with scouting or eating or hanging. I enjoyed everyone's company. I appreciated everyone doing what needed to be done. I felt safe and confident they'd help me if I needed it. It was a great group on a bucket list river.

There is a story about returning the groover that I'm not a party to. Maybe someday I'll hear the details.