Magnificent Salmon River Trip Report

by Margaret Thompson

It started with a forty-two cent stamp and a prayer as I mailed my lottery application for the Wild section of the Salmon River to the North Fork ranger station last January. In late February I received notification that I had won the lottery!! The put-in date was August 4, 2009. How long we could stay on the river would depend on the size of the group making the trip.

After a lot of emails flew through cyberspace Larry Lewis agreed to be the trip leader on the river, Laurie Patterson volunteered to put together the meals, and Weldon Sanders and Darrell Lee joined the group that made the trip. With five in the group we could stay up to eight days on the river. We opted for a seven day stint on the river with one of those being a layover day.

Group gear lists were completed. Ronnie Ash agreed to our using his home as the rendezvous site so we gathered at Ronnie’s at daybreak on August 1st. After unloading our vehicles and re-loading everyone’s gear onto Weldon’s behemoth truck, Ronnie bid us happy paddling as we pulled out onto US Highway 287 around 8 A.M.

In route to the Salmon River we camped at a private campground outside of Colorado Springs (that had bear guards on the dumpsters!) and at a KOA in Pocatello, Idaho. Two and a half long days of driving put us at Corn Creek campground on the Main Salmon River. We arrived early enough on Aug. 3 that Weldon and Larry were able to get their rafts rigged that afternoon/evening. The ramp for rigging was like a reflector oven, with the ambient temperature being in the high nineties. So much for the hoped for cooler temperatures in Idaho relative to Texas! Larry talked with some of the other groups putting in the next day in hopes of negotiating for reserved campsites.

The morning of the 4th we found out which reserved campsites we were able to secure, finished loading the rafts and put on the water at a flow rate below 5,000 CFS. I was a passenger on Larry’s raft, Laurie and Darrell paddled their kayaks and Weldon rowed his catamaran raft.

Day One: The first day on the river we traveled 12.9 miles to Upper Devil’s Teeth campsite, negotiating four named and a few unnamed rapids without mishap. The second day was our longest paddle, covering 20.5 miles. Despite the long paddle we made time to stop at a hot spring for a brief sauna experience.

Day Two: The rapids on day two were a bit more challenging than the first day and there were some swims. At Upper Allison campsite we had a nice size beach and a few flat areas above the beach where a tent could be pitched among the pines. Upper Allison was close to a privately owned ranch just a short way downstream and up the side of the mountain. On our first afternoon at Upper Allison, Darrell, Laurie, and I decided to hike up the mountain in an upstream direction, being ever vigilant for bears and snakes. We were rewarded with a great view of the river.

Day Three: This was a layover day. It rained or drizzled all morning and into the afternoon. We all started out on a downriver hike, but Larry soon went back because of the abundance of poison ivy.

Application of Tecnu was the order of the day after our hikes. It must have worked, because we tromped through lots of poison ivy and no one broke out with a rash.) This hike took us to good views of some of the rapids to be run the follow-ing day.

On the way back to our campsite a location signaling device, called a “Spot”, that Laurie brought on the trip fell off a backpack and bounced several times before coming to rest about 120 feet below the trail. When Darrell retrieved it, it was still working despite a few divots in the case. We decided Laurie should write the manufacturer to endorse the rugged durability of the “Spot”.

When we got back to the private ranch property we came upon a doe and two fawns in the pasture. One fawn pogo-sticked its way towards us to get a better view. It showed no fear of the Homo sapiens busily taking pictures. By the time we got back to the campsite, Larry had set up a tarp, which we gratefully huddled under to keep the rain off our lunch. The following morning a doe walked right through the upper end of our campsite while we were breaking camp. Laurie also had a visitor, a mouse, which the folks camping next to us said ar-rived with them in their raft.

Day Four: The next day was a twenty mile day with ten named rapids, three of which were rated up to class IV and one that was rated a V in high water (which we did not have). There were a few more swims that day. And I somehow managed to partially dislocate a finger and tear a tendon on my right hand going through Elk-horn rapid. There is nothing heroic about how the injury was sustained. All I was doing was sitting on a dry box and holding onto a strap.

We got into Haynie Bar campsite late in the day in a light drizzle that became a steady rain by the time dinner was ready. In an effort to minimize the amount of my gear I had elected to leave my Gortex rain coat at home. Then I forgot the paddling jacket that I intended to wear over my fleece jacket in the event of rain. So after rapidly eating my dinner I retired early to my tent and fussed at myself for forgetting the paddling jacket. The rain continued through the night and we broke camp in a drizzle the next morning.

Day Five: We traveled only nine miles and had only two named rapids. But Larry got a good work-out any way stroking in earnest to try to beat another group to a campsite that had been highly recommended. We weren’t able to pass the other rafter. But when we got to the desired campsite we found it already occupied anyway. We got to Indian Creek campsite before noon. There was a group there comprised of two families hailing from California and Oregon and they were breaking camp. The rafts parked at Indian Creek campsite while Laurie and Darrell went to the next campsite about a tenth of a mile further down river to check it out. It had been recommended by one of the rangers, but appeared undesirable to our scouts. So we waited at Indian Creek campsite for the departing group to head down river.

Fortunately the rain had stopped and the sun was out. So we spread out our wet tents, sleeping bags, clothes, and other gear all of which dried before the rain came again later in the day. Weldon came back from walking up the trail that followed the creek and reported seeing some picturesque drops. So Laurie, Darrell, and I took the same trail being sure to make noise to alert any bears in the immediate vicinity to our presence. When we got back from photographing the drops along the creek, Weldon reported seeing a snake that we decided was non-venomous. (Larry later noted that a guide book indicated lots of rattlesnakes around the Indian Creek campsite. That was why he had not, at the beginning of the trip, considered it a desirable campsite.)

Just before Indian Creek flowed into the Salmon River there was a heavy canopy of trees over the creek. Lau-rie and Darrell soaked in the creek sitting on their camp stools while I soaked my swollen hand. The water was cold enough that my hand was the only part of my anatomy that I cared to immerse! I don’t see how Laurie and Darrell could stand to sit in that creek!

Day Six: We covered thirteen and a half miles, running two named rapids and a few smaller ones. We saw three groups of bighorn sheep. Two were ewes and lambs and the third a few rams. On this day we passed some commercial ranches that cater to folks who come down (and go up) river in jet boats. The “Wild” section of the main Salmon River is in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness; however, the Central Idaho Wilderness Act of 1980 permits jet boats on the river. The jet boats have right-of-way in the rapids. We en-countered a lot more jet boats on the last three days on the river, presumably because of the weekend. We spent our last night on the river at Johnson Creek Bar campsite.

Day Seven: We got an early start the last day on the river in order to get to the take-out before other groups. It was only two and a half miles to the take-out at Vinegar Creek boat ramp. Laurie and Darrell elected to be raft passengers for this last stretch of river. There was a group that was finishing de-rigging their rafts when we got to the take-out. We were surprised to see a sign at the take-out indicating that the river was running above 9,000 CFS. Once we unloaded and de-rigged the rafts and loaded up Weldon’s truck, Weldon did a great job of navigating off the mountain slopes and into Riggins. We had lunch at a city park in Riggins then drove to Twin Falls, Idaho, where the KOA we stayed in was the nicest one I’ve ever seen---lots of above average amenities and some very welcome hot showers.

The next day as we made our way to Pueblo, Colorado, and another KOA, Laurie down-loaded the photos and videos that had been taken on the river. Some of those photos and videos will, hopefully, be on the NTRR website soon. In this report I named our campsites so you could look for them at www.whitewatercampsites.com. The 78.1 miles we traveled on the “Wild” section of the Salmon River were beautiful!

Laurie took it upon herself to prepare menus and meals. As on past trips, she did a fantastic job of creating meals that were delicious and nutritious. We are grateful to have been recipients of her significant talent in the culinary realm!

I learned a valuable lesson on this trip: never go on a river trip without good rain gear. Since it rained five of the seven days we were on the river, I would have been a drier, happier camper if I had had a rain jacket.

My advice to others who plan a river trip: (1) be safe; (2) take good rain gear; (3) take Laurie!