The Grand Ronde River rocks as a springtime alternative to the Owyhee River

Steve Schneider, left, and Jim Giuffre soak up the scenery of the Grand Ronde River canyon.

Hi all, 

I watched the weather and the Owyhee River flows like a hawk in March and early April, and dang, the Owyhee was amazingly elusive this year! The flows rose a bit when it started to warm up, and then it'd crash with major cool-downs, rise again a bit, and then suddenly, it was gone, well below 1,000 cubic feet per second, a minimum level for rafting. 

On the heels of the ski season, I had a major itch to get out on a spring river and go camping for at least a couple of nights. I normally head over to run the Grand Ronde River in May, but last week, I saw the flow was running over 5,000 cubic feet per second. Bingo! I made a few calls, pulled together a great little group of friends -- friends who also have their own boats and gear -- and we made plans on launch on Sunday, April 18 and takeout on Wednesday, April 21. 

Our layover camp

A 4-day trip would allow enough time for a layover day at one of my favorite campsites that often features bighorn sheep and an excellent ridge hike to a spectacular viewpoint on top of the 1,000-foot-deep canyon. 

Plus, the river rose to 6,500 cfs while we were on the trip, making it super easy to make miles when needed. At some points, we were averaging 7-8 mph floating downriver on Day 4. Yee-haw! 

Overall, the Grand Ronde River trip is a 38-mile scenic jewel. Put-in is at Minam State Park east of Elgin and La Grande, and the takeout is at Powatka Bridge. The Minam Store by the river-launch site will run your shuttle for $125/vehicle. A self-issue BLM permit can be filled out before you launch. 

Paved roads to the put-in. I like how you can drive the freeway and paved highways from Boise to the Minam launch in about 3.5-4 hours via La Grande. 

Looking down at rock cliffs on a hike above camp.

Floating the Grand Ronde is kind of like going home for me, as I lived in La Grande in my first newspaper job out of college for three years to start my journalism career. I loved living in La Grande. It was also the first river where I learned to row a raft. It's a good beginner river, with mainly Class 2 rapids. The Grand Ronde River draws from the snow in the mountains above La Grande as well as the Wallowa Mountain range and Eagle Cap Wilderness. 

My friends thought the river was similar to the Middle Fork in the section, say, below Indian Creek, without as many rapids. And I agree. It's an official National Wild and Scenic River. The top portion of the Grand Ronde canyon is designated as a Wild river, and the bottom, below Powatka Bridge, is Recreational. The upper canyon has dozens of beautiful forested campsites, where you can spend more than one night, if you wish. 

Steep hike to the ridge out of camp

If you go, be sure to practice the same pack-it-in/pack-it-out camping practices that you observe on Idaho's permitted rivers -- things like burn your fire in a firepan, pack a toilet for human waste, and leave nothing behind when you leave camp. 

On this particular trip, I enjoyed having my good ski and biking buddies Steve Schneider and Jim Giuffre in the bow of my raft. We have been having a blast shredding powder in McCall all winter long. Now the calendar is turning to mountain biking and rafting! 

We also had Dan Popkey on the trip, a former Statesman political columnist and reporter with whom I used to float lots of rivers back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was fun to do a trip with Dan again, and it was also special to have Rocky Barker with us, too, on Dan's raft. Rocky and I have done a lot of trips together and worked together as journalists on projects dating back to the 1990s.  

Eric strikes a pose on top of the ridge

Friends Eric Straubhar and Kirk Bachman rounded out our crew. Eric and Kirk and I have done a number of Middle Fork trips and other trips together in recent years. But they'd never done the Grand Ronde. We all have the gear needed for a river trip, so it's pretty easy to put a trip together. Those guys are awesome hands on the river or anything outdoors for that matter. 

We had chilly mornings and sunny afternoons. It was key to bring plenty of firewood for warming fires in the morning and evening. Both of the camps we stayed at had plenty of surplus wood, just behind camp, too.

Just a lovely afternoon on top of the ridge ... barely a whisper of wind

Other spring rivers: As things warm up, the Payette River and Salmon River will be great choices moving forward. The Lower Salmon will be doable as long as it's below 20,000 cfs at The Slide (dangerous rapids above that level). The South Fork and Main Fork of the Payette are starting to come up, and the North Fork will be running soon. See Idaho river flows USGS site for real-time flows. 

The Riggins day stretch or Vinegar Creek to Spring Bar are several other good spring river trips. And the mighty Lochsa should be cranking big-time with the best snowpack in the state. Looks like it's already running close to 5,000 cfs this week.

Iphone doesn't do it justice, but these rams were impressive!

Hells Canyon and the Hagerman section of the Snake River are a couple of other spring river options. This is still pre-permit season in Hells Canyon BTW.
- SS