Boom! New wildfire closes Main Salmon River, new creek blowouts block upper Middle Fork Salmon - Here we go again!

Courtesy Lynn Demerse/U.S. Forest Service 

Hi all, 

In the last week, the Elkhorn wildfire blew up and burned over the top of the Allison Ranch on the Main Salmon River, taking out seven buildings including the main lodge, cabins and museum, and the Main Salmon - River of No Return Wilderness section has been closed for three days for safety reasons.

The Main Salmon reopened today, Thursday, Aug. 3, but it could be a day-to-day situation for weeks/months depending on fire behavior and weather. See more information about the Elkhorn Fire on the Forest Service inciweb site. It was burning about 25,000 acres in heavy timber and rugged country in the Salmon River breaks as of Thursday morning. 

On top of all this, a big rainstorm near Boundary Creek and Dagger Falls has caused two, new creek blowouts on the Middle Fork Salmon River, one below the Boundary Creek launch point, and a second one below Velvet Falls Rapids. 

Blowout above the entrance to Velvet Falls, Middle Fork Salmon River. 
(courtesy Aaron Lieberman/IOGA)

So, you might say all hell has broken loose in our beloved Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and two nationally popular wilderness whitewater river trips, the Middle Fork and the Main Salmon. 

If the Forest Service has to close the Main Salmon again, it could cause a real pile up of river floaters on the Lower Salmon River, a place everyone goes when they don't draw a permit on the Main or the Middle Fork. Floaters also are being given the option of carrying over their trips to next year on the same date. 

On the Main, eight parties are poised to launch on the river every day.  

On the Middle Fork, many outfitted groups are flying in their trips to the Indian Creek airstrip 25 miles downriver because the water has dropped to 2.1 feet on the gauge. But it's likely that a number of private boaters were ready to launch at Boundary Creek today, only to learn that the river is blocked in two locations by log jams. The same thing happened on the Middle fork last year in late season.  

Elkhorn Fire perimeter map as of 7 a.m., 8/3/23  

So what to do if you're expecting to launch on the Main Salmon or Middle Fork Salmon? There's a number you can call to clarify your options: 208-756-5587.

"We are getting flooded with phone calls, that's for sure," officials manning that phone said today.  

If you do launch your trip on the Main Salmon, Forest Service officials say, "There will be no stopping or camping on either side of the river from Sunny Bar (River Mile 22.6) to Campbells Ferry (River Mile 42.5).  You will be floating through an active fire area and will encounter very smoky conditions. Please be on the lookout for falling rocks, logs and other debris.  Please exercise caution when floating through the fire area. 

"If you do choose to launch, please do not impede any firefighting operations including moving out of the way of jetboats carrying firefighting personnel when possible, following instructions from Forest Service personnel, and plan to pass through the no stopping, no camping section of the river as early in the day as possible. As your group passes through the fire area, stay together as a group with all boats in the party staying within close proximity to each other."

If you're planning to launch on the Middle Fork, you'll need to fly your group into Indian Creek to avoid the log jams in the upper portion of the river. 

Back to the Main Salmon ... the only issue with not stopping in that 15- to 20-mile section that's restricted due to the Elkhorn fire, is it's chock full of the biggest rapids on the whole trip, namely Big Mallard and Elkhorn, both Class 4 rapids, and 5 Mile rapids, a Class 3+ drop with a big hole on the right, and Split Rock Rapids, a big Class 3. The visibility may be bad when you're trying to negotiate these drops, so if you're not familiar with these rapids, that could be a reason to wait for next year. 

People going with outfitters will be going with experienced river guides who are running those rapids every week, so they will know the safe way through, even if the visibility is bad. 

I'd encourage floaters to visit with their groups and make a quick, informed decision on what to do. 

Be aware that ultimately, you will be on your own, and you'll be responsible for your own safety. Bring a satellite phone and an Garmin InReach GPS so you can communicate with the outside world. 

These are world-class once-in-a-lifetime river trips. If you have the flexibility to roll your permit date to next year, it might be best to postpone your trip and see the Main Salmon in all of its glory in bluebird, non-smoky, non-hazardous conditions next summer.  

- SS

Fall is a sweet time to visit the Middle Fork Salmon River - and other Idaho rivers

Steve and Wendy at a big wall of Native American pictographs on the Middle Fork. 

Hi all, 

Take a long look at the lovely Middle Fork of the Salmon River, and the beauty is so profound, it takes my breath away.

It's gin-clear, giving the sense that you're floating in a glass-bottomed boat, and in deeper spots, the Middle Fork takes on this turquoise blue-green hue that darkens with deepness. I just love looking into those deep, dark pools and marvel at the beauty. It's fun to look for schools of native west-slope cutthroat trout or big bull trout in those pools, too. 

I had the privilege of floating the Middle Fork with a small group of eight people last week, and it renewed my soul, as it always does. We decided to fly our gear into Indian Creek, 25 miles downriver from the official launch point at Boundary Creek, so we could enjoy a leisurely pace and take eight days of wilderness bliss for a quality vacation off-the-grid and away from all of the bizarre weirdness that 2020 has become. 

Dan and Kelly and all of our group will fit into this plane on the flight into Indian Creek.

Floating the Middle Fork in the fall -- after the official control season ends after Labor Day weekend -- is something that a lot of Idaho locals do because it's easier to get a permit at that time of year. My longtime friend Jeff Beaman had snagged the permit earlier in the year. We had six good friends from Boise on the trip, and a super fun couple from L.A. who had done the Selway River with Beaman a few years ago. 

We brought four rafts so we had two people on each boat, plus my pointer Huck. 

My first trip on the Middle Fork was in June 1987, 33 years ago, a higher-water trip that started with snow falling at the put-in, freezing temperatures, then steady rain, followed by 7 days of sunny blissful weather. The Middle Fork cast a spell on me that has lasted a lifetime.     

Ben Nydegger and Kelly in Marble Creek Rapids

The river pours out of the wilderness headwaters in Central Idaho, and it flows for 100 miles to the Main Salmon River. There are natural hot springs to enjoy nearly every day, countless side-hikes to explore, historic sites, Native American pictographs, Veil Cave, Parrott's Grotto, the Impassible Canyon, fun times with friends, Dutch oven dinners, fantastic, consistent trout-fishing, tons of rapids to negotiate and rocks to dodge, and occasionally, a long stretch of calm water when you can put the oars under your knees and stare up at the vertical mountains and canyons to look for bighorn sheep, elk, deer or birds of prey and marvel at the beauty. 

Even though the Middle Fork is close to home, being situated inside the 2.3-million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, I feel that I'm as far away from civilization as I might feel if I'm on a vacation in Baja or Hawaii. After working nose-to-the-grindstone since last January, my oh my was I ready for a quality break! 

The scene at Indian Creek launch point. A little smoky. We didn't see anyone for 5-6 days.

We flew our people and gear into Indian Creek with Gem Air a day before our official launch date, so we actually had nine days of vacation on the Middle Fork. It felt really long, and I felt that we had pretty much soaked up the Middle Fork for all it's worth. Most groups take only 6 or 7 days, for comparison. 

I recommend staying as long as possible because it's such a cool place, and you never really know for sure when you might be back. I've done the Middle Fork more than 30 times, but I certainly never get tired of it. More and more, as time goes on, I feel like it's my home away from home. In the years when I've been able to do two trips on the Middle Fork in July or August, that's really good medicine for my spirit and soul. 

Long-time friends and Ho Hum team-mates Jim Acee and Kristin Nelson

Think about trying to get out on Idaho's scenic rivers in the fall when the weather is still nice. You also can plan a trip on the Main Salmon River, Hells Canyon, South Fork Snake River or sign up for a jet-boat scenic ride or fishing trip on the Salmon or Hells Canyon. If you don't have your own river gear, look for hot deals with outfitters through Raft Idaho. Jet boat trips can be found at the Riggins Chamber of Commerce web site. 

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking so you can share in the glory of our mostly smokeless Middle Fork trip.
- SS 

Ben, Kelly and I hiked up the switchback trail by Camas Creek on our layover day. 

Steve enjoys the hot pool at Sunflower Hot Springs

Dan and Kelly at Sunflower Hot Springs

Kelly liked the hot springs at Hospital Bar as well ... 

Veil Falls 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New guidelines for whitewater boating during COVID-19, plus Redfish camprounds in the Sawtooth NRA open Friday

Quinn Stuebner nails the chute in Tappan Falls on the Middle Fork Salmon River

Hi all,

It's been good to see the number of new coronavirus cases declining in Idaho, allowing Gov. Little to continue re-opening the state to larger group gatherings of up to 10-50 people as of May 30. That's going to allow Idaho's river outfitters to take larger groups rafting this summer on day trips on the Payette River and also on week-long vacations on the famed Middle Fork of the Salmon River and Salmon River - River of No Return. 

Before I get into the details on that stuff, I saw a news release from the Sawtooth National Forest, announcing that more campgrounds are opening up on Friday, June 5th, including the super popular Redfish Lake campgrounds, Stanley Lake campgrounds, Grand Jean campground and more. Here's a list of what's opening tomorrow. Go to recreation.gov to reserve sites.

FYI - Here's a guidance protocol document about safe camping practices that's been approved by state health authorities. Link to US Forest Service interactive statewide map on recreation sites open/closed.    

Another nugget in the governor's May 30 order is that a ban on non-essential travel has been lifted. That's good news for people who are ready to get out of town after living in a cocoon since mid-March. 

Drew clowns around with his friend Jenny on the Boise River last summer.

Now that it's warming up, people will be flocking to do day trips on the Payette River and Boise River, just as they're flocking to popular spots in Boise like Quinn's pond, the Boise Whitewater Park and Esther Simplot Park. Friday is going to be in the mid-90s, and then the weather looks really wet and crummy this weekend, but it will be warming up again next week. 

The state's easing of restrictions is timed well to accommodate peeps who are ready to hit the water for summer recreation. But just as a reminder, as things open up more, and we see more congestion around the water, it will be incumbent on all of us to use best practices to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

To that end, I'd recommend carrying masks and wearing them in heavily congested areas at river-launch sites and takeouts. Everyone will have their own opinions and tolerances for how much congestion they are comfortable with.

Signature pic passing under the Rainbow Bridge on the Cabarton section, North Fork Payette River

BTW, I checked in with Ada County Parks & Waterways officials, and they are planning on having a float season on the Boise River at Barber Park with equipment rental and shuttles. No opening date has been set, as yet! But watch for an announcement soon. In the meantime, people can launch their own boats at Barber Park at any time. Be aware the Boise River is running at only 600 cfs ... so it's pretty low flow, and rocks, trees and other debris in the river and on shore could present a hazard.  

Idaho Health & Welfare officials have approved the following guidelines for private groups who are going kayaking or rafting on Idaho's rivers:

• Solo boats are OK - Stand-up paddle boards, inflatable kayaks, single-person rowing a raft, etc.
• Ideally, go with small groups with immediate family or room-mates that have been living together.
• If you go with a mixed group of friends, drive separately to the put-in. Go downriver in separate boats, if possible.  
• Try to put family members in the same paddle boat; or room-mates in the same paddle boat.
• Shuttles: Do your own shuttle ideally
• Have a friend do your shuttle vs. hiring a shuttle service, if possible.
• Wear cloth face coverings while on the water (masks are not recommended in the water).
• Wipe down and disinfect high-touch surfaces before and after the trip. 
• Sanitize your vehicle before driving it; sanitize your vehicle after a shuttle driver has used it. 
• Use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol. 
• Wash your hands before and after your trip. 

On June 3, Gov. Little's office released new COVID-19 guidelines and recommended protocols for outfitted businesses in Idaho, as they have done for a variety of businesses in recent weeks. You can click on the link to read the document in detail. In essence, the guidance recommends that outfitters put a variety of protocols in place at their place of business to ensure 6-foot social distancing, having hand-sanitizer handy for employees and guests, take steps to ensure employees are healthy, etc.

Weeping waterfall at Veil Falls, Middle Fork Impassible Canyon

By easing group sizes to up to 50 people, Idaho's outfitters that typically take large groups of 24 guests on the Middle Fork or Main Salmon rivers will be allowed to do so along with licensed guides who lead the trips.

The outfitting guidance also allows flexibility for outfitters to run paddle boats with mixed groups of people on the river.

I have a gut feeling that some people from out of state may cancel their outfitted river trips in Idaho this summer because of their own personal finances, challenges or anxiety about airline travel, anxiety about being around large groups on the river trip, or other issues.

Hence, it might be a good year for Idaho residents to do a Middle Fork, Main Salmon, Hells Canyon or Selway river trip with an outfitter at a discounted price. Usually those trips cost at least $2,000 per person. Check IOGA's Raft Idaho site to search for outfitters that run your favorite river and see if you can find an open seat. I highly recommend doing these trips ... they are a true trip-of-a-lifetime!

Fish on! Middle Fork native cutthroat trout 

Again, everyone will have their own level of comfort to be around mixed groups and crowds right now by the water. Hopefully everyone will do their part to keep our coronavirus infection rates to a minimum.

Have fun, be safe and stay healthy! 
- SS   

It's not too late! Celebrate Idaho's rivers by planning a "staycation" on our four best rivers

Ah, rafting on the Salmon River! Life is good! 

Kids reading books? No electronics to divert their attention ... 

The historic Jim Moore homestead on the Salmon River near Campbell's Ferry. 

Dutch oven cooking! 

Happy people! 

Hiking! This is Amanda Damon from Rhode Island. She'd never seen so many mountains ...  

The kids love paddling the double ducky. Thanks Mark! 

Hi all,

After posting pictures from our recent trip on the Main Salmon River - River of No Return, I heard some people say things like "jealous!" and "wish I could go" and of course "beautiful!"

We are blessed with a bounty of awesome, wilderness river trips in Idaho, and the Main Salmon is one of the crown jewels. I also heartily recommend doing a trip on the Salmon, the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, the Selway River and Hells Canyon of the Snake.

It's not too late! There's still plenty of time to plan or book a whitewater wilderness vacation with your friends and family. Given how dry it's been this spring, the experts are predicting a big wildfire season in late summer. You'd be smart to plan a river trip in July, if at all possible.

Who go? The Main Salmon is arguably one of the best family wilderness whitewater vacations in America. And it's located right here in our home state in Central Idaho. You camp on spacious beaches with lots of shade afforded by tall stately pine trees. You get to play on the river during the day, and then you can set up the volleyball net on the beach, play bocce ball, hang out and enjoy the scenery, and more. Plus, there's hot springs, history, and Buckskin Bill's and Mackay Bar, where you can buy fresh ice cream for your kids.

River trips are one of the cushiest forms of camping you can imagine. Instead of hauling all of your food and clothes on your back such as in backpacking, the raft carries all the weight. You can bring iced coolers with just about any food items you want, plus you can carry plenty of favorite beverages for the kids and adults.

As you're enjoying the float trip during the week, the members of your floating party bond and get to know each other on a much more personal basis. You will make lifelong friends on the river. And you will fall in love with the river canyon.

The Main Salmon is best suited for families and novice boaters because the rapids are not as hard to navigate as they are on the Middle Fork, Hells Canyon or the Selway. Follow an experienced boater down the river, and you'll learn a ton. My cousin from Rhode Island learned how to row a raft on our Main Salmon trip, and by the time he reached the end of the trip, he had learned a ton, including how to self-rescue in the middle of a rapids! (Chittam).

For the do-it-yourself boating community, the hardest part of getting on the Main Salmon, Middle Fork, Selway or Hells Canyon is drawing a permit. I picked up a cancelation for June 10th in April from recreation.gov, so I had plenty of time to plan a trip and pull together a diverse party of 16 people.

If you still don't have a permit for this summer, watch the recreation.gov web site for last-minute cancelations, and grab a date that works for you. It will likely be easiest to find cancelations on the Main Salmon or Hells Canyon. The Middle Fork will have some cancelations, particularly in later summer, and the Selway is unlikely to have any cancelations, as only 1 launch is allowed per day.

The second way to book a river trip is to go with an outfitter. Idaho is blessed with a multitude of quality outfitters. As longtime businesses operated on Idaho's best rivers, the outfitters receive an allocation of permits for their trips. So you don't need to draw a permit to go with them. You just have to pay the trip fee, which is usually about $1,500 per person. Go to the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association web site, and shop for an outfitted river trip.

Other options are to float the Lower Salmon River below Whitebird to Hells Canyon. This section of river is a great trip for kids and families, and nothing more than a self-issue permit is needed. This is a 4- or 5-day trip, depending on how fast you want to go.

Other possibilities would be to float the Grand Ronde River or John Day River in Eastern Oregon, or the South Fork of the Snake River in Eastern Idaho.
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Reminder: the SWIMBA Trail Rendezvous runs from 3-9 p.m. on Saturday at the Eagle Cycle Park.
This is a fund-raising event for SWIMBA's quest to purchase a singletrack trail-cutting machine. They are only $9,000 short of their goal. Sockeye brewing is donating all proceeds from beer sales to SWIMBA. Sockeye has created a new beer called "Trail Digger Pale Ale." I'm going to head over there to drink some beer and support the addition of more singletrack trails in SW Idaho.

Also, see Roger Phillips rundown in the Statesman of a bunch of must-see, must-do cycling events coming up this summer. Thanks Roger!

One of those events is the Blue Cruise, a road ride of 15, 30, 50 and 100 miles, starting in Meridian. The ride this year will benefit low-income kids who need bikes. Donate your old bikes to Blue Cross or the Boise Bicycle Project, and BBP will recycle them for the Bikes for Kids event in late July. More information here.    

Outdoorsy folks in Cascade are getting quite creative with a new event called the Payette River Games. There are all kinds of competitive events going on in Cascade at Kelly's Whitewater Park and other venue, including a kayak competition, beach volleyball, bocce ball, golf, lumberjack, fitness, yoga, you name it! It starts on Friday and runs through Sunday.

Have fun!
-SS

Late-season river trips in Idaho offer solitude, great fishing

Greg and Jan 20 years later in the grotto with their wedding T-shirts on ...

Parrott's Grotto

The water gets deeper and swifter in the Impassible Canyon

Fish on!

The snag that almost landed on Greg

Whew!

Yee-haw! Hello Middle Fork!

Final approach to Indian Creek ... really excited now

Taking off for the Middle Fork, banking by the Sawtooth Mountains

Ready to roll at 7:45 a.m. at the Stanley airstrip with all of our gear

Hi all,

Idaho's blessed with world-class rivers, and because of their popularity, it's tough to get a permit in the middle of the summer. But in the fall, after Labor Day weekend, it's easy to grab a launch permit -- if one is required at all -- and you can enjoy the September weather, solitude and great fishing.

Some friends of mine got married 20 years ago in Parrott's grotto on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. We had hoped to do a wedding reunion trip in July, but no one in our group drew a permit from the lottery system, so we planned a September trip instead. You just have to hang loose and wait for the permits to become available on the www.recreation.gov web site, and snag one.

The hard part is finding a date that works for working people with kids in September. You've got to find someone to supervise the kids so they can stay in school -- that can be a tough one -- get time off work, etc. Plus, there might be other complications. So even though we had 18 people on the wedding party trip, our reunion trip consisted of just four people -- the honored guests, Greg Harley and Jan Sutter, my partner Wendy and me. That's cool ... I love small groups ... it makes things SO much simpler.

Considering all of the fall multi-day trip options in Idaho, the Middle Fork and the Main Salmon rivers involve the most logistics and expense. Floating Hells Canyon near Cambridge, the Lower Salmon Gorge near Whitebird or the South Fork of the Snake River east of Idaho Falls are easier to pull off, and no advance reservations are required. You just fill out a self-issue permit at the boat launch, arrange for a vehicle shuttle and go.

Besides the hassle of getting an advance permit on the Middle Fork, you also need to decide whether you're going to fly into Indian Creek (25 miles downriver to avoid low water and lots of rocks), and then arrange for a vehicle shuttle ($225 from Stanley to the takeout). We choose to fly into Indian Creek with McCall Air Taxi from Stanley to make things easier for our group. Most of the private groups we saw on the river started from the top, at Boundary Creek, because the water was a little higher this year (1.8 feet on the gauge). They ran small boats and packed lightly. One nimble group from Hailey floated in self-support inflatable kayaks backpack-style with no rafts to carry camp gear.

Admittedly, we chose the deluxe route. We wanted to eat like kings and queens on the wedding reunion trip (lots of Dutch oven meals), we packed champagne for the grotto, and the rafts allowed us to bring plenty of warm clothes for hanging out in the evenings and mornings.

(FYI - I've run the Middle Fork many times in late season at 1.8 feet or less without incident, but you have to focus like a laser beam on your line through rock-choked shallow areas, and be ready to leap out of the boat and push off rocks, which can lead to injuries. A friend of mine floated the Middle Fork the week before we went this year, and his boatmen were so weak and inexperienced, they just gave up on trying to steer around rocks after a while, and just drifted until they got stuck. They were totally exhausted by the time they reached Indian Creek.)

Back to the weather ... the first couple of days, the mornings were downright chilly, with temperatures just above freezing before sunrise. And then, when the sun popped over the high mountains guarding the river canyon, it warmed up in a hurry. There's at least a 30-degree temperature swing between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. By noon, the temperatures were in the 80s, and the fish were biting on dry flies. Wa-hoo!

I have to mention one bone-chilling incident we experienced at Marble Creek Camp on Day 1. A 60-foot dead snag fell over in the afternoon after we reached camp and almost landed on Greg, who was hanging out in his lawn chair, reading on his Kindle. He was looking up at the tree and said to Wendy, "Hey, did you see that widowmaker up there?" Seconds later, the tree came crashing down, and Greg was quick enough to leap out the way!

A Shoshone-Bannock woman had given us a blessing before we launched at Indian Creek. Let me tell you, we all felt that her blessing may have made a difference, and we certainly felt blessed after that incident. The tree could have injured Greg or worse, and it could have landed on our camp table, wrecked dry boxes, etc. We were lucky!

On our last full day on the river, we pulled into Parrott's Cabin at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. We hiked up to the hidden grotto with the champagne and felt the mist of the tiny waterfall cascading over the rocks and into the cavern. It brought back a lot of great memories from 20 years before, and many other visits before and since. Best of all, Greg and Jan were all giddy and grinning from ear to ear. We soaked in the moment and had a big group hug.

And then a group of families showed up to see the grotto with their kids. The parents had taken their kids out of school for a week to enjoy the Middle Fork in September. Good for them, I thought! One of these years, I might do the same thing.

A few more notes on the Idaho's best multi-day trip rivers to run in the fall:

• Main Salmon wilderness section - Float from Corn Creek to Carey Creek, about 80 miles. Six days is best at low flow. After chukar partridge season opens on Oct. 1, this section can be productive for fall bird hunting. We saw a lot of chukars on the Middle Fork. Pick up a launch permit on recreation.gov.
• Lower Salmon Gorge - Float from Hammer Creek to Hellar Bar or arrange for a jet boat ride from the Salmon River confluence to Pittsburg Landing. Most people do this trip in 4 or 5 days in the fall. More days equal more leisure time. Wait until steelhead season opens, and it's a great cast-and-blast trip. Great section for chukar hunting as well. Only self-issue permit needed, available at the launch site.
• Hells Canyon - Put in at Hells Canyon Dam and float to Pittsburg Landing, about 35 miles. The cast-and-blast trip in Hells Canyon used to be kind of a secret. Nowadays, it's very popular. I will be doing my 22nd annual trip this fall in Hells Canyon in mid-October. Only self-issue permit needed, available at the launch site. Watch out for poison ivy and rattlesnakes.
• South Fork Snake River - Put in at Palisades Dam or other points downstream and float to Heise. Fly fishing for large native cutthroat trout and brown trout on this river is quite tricky because it's fished so hard nearly every day by a string of outfitters and private boaters. Most people zip through the standard canyon run in a day. Take your time, start at Palisades, and enjoy camping along the way in large cottonwood groves. Do your research about the best flies to use. The fish are picky.

If you don't have your own river boat, there are numerous outfitters who offer trips on the rivers I've mentioned here. Go to www.ioga.org to look for an outfitter that suits your needs and budget. Outfitters will know what flies and lures work best for fishing, and they also offer bird-hunting trips. Look for hot deals!

Have fun!
- SS

Greg and Jan made a chicken casserole and blueberry cobbler at Shelf Camp on Day 2