Middle Fork Salmon, May 15 - 20

The Middlefork of the Salmon is a much sought after multi-day river trip in Idaho. Compared to the rivers in Northern BC, it’s not quite as remote as labels like “River of no Return Wilderness” and “Largest Road-less Area in the Lower 48” may suggest, but it’s pretty awesome for scenic value. This is also the reason that permits for it are difficult to come by – the chance to win the lottery are less than one in twenty.

The organizer of our trip decided to go for a pre-season permit, which are given out on a first come first serve basis. Pre-season runs can pose a couple of problems: snow on the put-in road may require a flight to access a lower put-in, logs may have accumulated in drops over the winter, levels may be very high and the weather can be very variable.

We were pretty lucky and only had to deal with one of the above. Weather was sunny and warm when we started; the levels around 5 foot made for exciting but still friendly big water, the road opened two days before we showed up, one log jam that would have required an arduous portage washed out just prior to our trip. All that was left was a couple of nasty trees standing in the middle of a newly created river channel – and a couple of hours of portaging rafts and gear around it.

Not a big price to pay for a fantastic trip, thrilling rapids, relaxing hot springs, weird critters (like rubber boas) and wonderful evenings with friends around the campfire. The expected cold front came in on our last day on the river and surprised us with some fresh snow up in the Montana mountain passes.