Trip report on Lower Salmon River + last-minute ideas for Labor Day outings

Lounging in camp with a glass of red wine apres dinner with Phil and Anna of Portland.

Hi all, 

We felt blessed to enjoy 7 days of bliss on the Lower Salmon River last week with our kids, Boise friends and Portland friends. 

For me as a Dad, it was cool to have my son Quinn (25) guiding his own raft on the Salmon River for the 3rd time and my step-daughter Elena (28) guiding her own raft for the first time. They both did great! 

The Lower Salmon is often a great fallback choice for people who have their own rafting gear. When we don't draw a permit for the Middle Fork Salmon River or the Main Salmon River River of No Return section, we often schedule a trip on the Lower Salmon instead. A self-issue permit is required by the BLM to run the Lower Salmon. You can fill out the form at the boat-launch at Hammer Creek. 

Sweet sunset on Night 3 in between rain storms. 

Our group of 12 took the whole week off from work, so we slept at the Hammer Creek put-in on Aug. 21, and launched the following morning for a 6-day, 50-mile trip. On Saturday at noon, we meet a Hammer Down River Excursions jet boat to shuttle our rafting gear to Pittsburg Landing. We also had our vehicles shuttled from Hammer Creek to Pittsburg Landing by All Rivers Shuttle Service in Whitebird. That's a lot of extra shuttling, but it saves a lot of time getting back to Boise. Plus we like to support the local businesses! 

Hammer Down and All Rivers Shuttle do a great job! I'd highly recommend them. 

The Lower Salmon could be a good bet for Labor Day weekend, but honestly, it likely will be busy as hell! You might pick another time to do the trip this fall. It'll be doable through mid-October.

Elena and her beau Chris Parri play in the sand.

Quite honestly, I've lost count of how many times I've floated the Salmon River, but maybe since I didn't do it last year, I really appreciated my time on the river this year. We were unplugged for 7 days. No cell phone coverage anywhere possible. That's always a bonus! 

Trip highlights: 

Rain!!!??? We got rained on for much of Day 1, which was a very pleasant surprise ... the temperature dropped like 20 degrees for that storm! Got more rain on the evening of Day 3, another pleasant surprise. That led to a cooler day the following day as well. 

Rapids: All went smooth. Everyone had a good run through Snow Hole Rapids, the only Class 4 drop on the trip. Everything else was read and run. Always go left, left, left in China Rapids. 

Camps: We got several new camps we liked with shade, and we nailed Whitehouse Bar on Day/Night 3. That's one of the most awesome campsites anywhere on the Salmon River. HUGE double camp and sand bars. Also blessed to get my favorite shady camp above Blue Canyon on Day/Night 5. 

Cooking: Share the duty, is my motto! We had the perfect number of cook teams for 6 dinners, so we split that up such that each team cooked one dinner and the next breakfast the following morning. Once you're done with cook duty, you're done for the week. Everyone pitches in to do dishes. 

Quinn Stuebner and Jim Baskin 
on the jet boat ride.

My meal on Night 1 was Surf & Turf, wild salmon and Tritip, side of cauliflower, onions, and potatoes. Took a while for a 4-pound Tritip roast to cook on the grill! But that was a hearty dinner to kick things off! Blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast the next morning. Now you're ready to roll and make some miles on the river!!!! Stueby is ready to crack the whip. I'm kind of known for that.  

Well, enough about our trip ... here are a few thoughts on outdoorsy outings for Labor Day weekend: 

Before we get into camping ideas, Bogus Basin, Brundage Mountain and Tamarack Resort all have some fun stuff going on this weekend, and the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic at Ann Morrison Park runs through Sunday this weekend.  

Drew and I got to go on a balloon ride with Randy Ashton of Boise this morning! Way cool! 

• Trinity Mountains - Go camping, day-hiking or backpacking in the Trinities. I recommend driving there via Featherville. Head for Big Trinity Lake, the trailhead and general dispersed camping area. It's definitely worth backpacking into the high mountain lakes to get away from the car-campers and enjoy some good fishing!
  
  
  
  

• Cascade area - Stolle Meadows and Landmark are my favorite camping areas in this neck of the woods. There are tons of primitive car-camping spots in both locations, east of Cascade, off the Warm Lake Highway. 

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  Lick Creek area in the Payette National Forest 

• McCall area - Camping, hiking and backpacking in the Lick Creek area NE of McCall should be fabulous. Some of the nice mountain lakes up there include Box, Snowslide, Duck, Hum, Enos and Thirty-three lakes. Pick up a Payette National Forest map or a McCall Adventure Map to get the details for access. Also, check my blog from earlier this summer on five easy-to-access kid-friendly mountain lakes in the McCall area. 
• Stanley area - I'm sure the Stanley area will be hopping with lots of campers at Stanley Lake, Redfish Lake, Pettit Lake and points along the Salmon River. It's still one of the most beautiful spots in Idaho!  

  
  

  North and Middle Forks of the Boise River ... car-camping mecca
   

• Idaho City area - The North and Middle Forks of the Boise River work great for car camping. See my post from last week.  

Also, Labor Day weekend is chock full of big sales at your favorite outdoor retailers in the Boise area. If you're staying in town, great time to save money on summer outdoor gear in close-out sales. 

-SS