The river is the BEST

Come with us on the "River of No Return". We'll spend a week rafting down the Salmon, through one of the deepest canyons in America. No telephones, no traffic. We'll float through pools so quiet you can only hear the canyon wrens. We'll run some of the biggest whitewater in the northwest. We'll camp on sandbars and watch bighorn sheep come down to drink. We’ll watch a trout rise to the fly. In the evening we'll have a drink while the fire burns down just right for steaks, and biscuits bake in the Dutch oven. We'll watch the campfire die beneath the pines and listen to the "River of No Return".

Log Jams in the past and future

Those of you who follow events on the rivers will remember the log jam at Pistol Creek rapid on the Middle Fork the summer of 06. The jam briefly re-formed last May, during what little high water we had, then broke out naturally before there was much traffic on the river. Upstream at the mouth of Lake Creek, the source of the logs that jammed, there was a problem throughout the summer with the new rapid, bank cutting and channel changing, and logs in the river. It was a nasty spot, and a particular concern for sweep boats. It will no doubt look different next spring after high water.
You will also be aware of the fires on the Middle Fork and Main Salmon last summer, and that the rivers were closed in August. I have not yet been on the upper Middle Fork after the fire season, but have heard concerns that there may be log problems next summer. I have been on the middle and lower sections, and, while we will see evidence of the fires, much of the area that was burned will be green with grass next spring. In October, after the fall rains started, there already was a little green grass coming up. I have not yet been on the Main Salmon, but suspect things will be similar--the grass and shrubs will bounce back, and there will be some sections where dead trees will be obvious.
Over the last few years, after the fires, there have been several changes to the rapids of the Middle Fork. The Lake Creek rapid just above Pistol Creek has formed and washed out five times as a result of mud slides from the creek, though it has not a major concern other than producing logs for the Pistol Creek jam until last spring. The Orelano rapid near Pungo has slid about three times, but has washed out enough to not be a big deal. Just above Loon Creek a blow-out a couple of years ago created a new, minor, rapid, which has mostly opened up. A couple of years ago Bernard Creek blew out at the bottom of Haystack Rapid, flooding most of it. The lower end of the rapid was still flooded last summer, but this year it has cut through and is similar to the old Haystack rapid. Immediately below Haystack, though, is the debris from the Bernard Creek blowout, which is a new rapid. The Cramer Creek rapid just above the Middle Fork take-out, which became a major rapid after a blow-out in August 03, and was nasty in 04, began to ease in 05, and was more fun than worry this year. We had a sharp high water in May of 06, up to about nine feet on the Middle Fork, which blew out some of the recent debris.

This summer we hope to get some high flows to flush out a lot of those logs that are clogging up the river, and because snow levels are so good, this very well could be the case.

Come join us in June, July or August this year!

Come join the fun!

www.idahorivers.com

Snowpack in the Salmon River in early February is right at above average, while total precipitation for the water year (begining 1 October) is well above average--reflecting warm weather through the fall. High elevation reporting stations are above average snowpack, low elevation stations are below normal. Assuming the current snowpack continues, and we have normal spring rains, we should have pretty high water at the beginning of June, moderating by late June, and be able to do complete Middle Fork trips without flying to Indian Creek through July.

Fall snowfall is important to river flows the following summer. The fall snow seems to pack down, freeze hard, and last better. Late winter snow may bring the snowpack average up, but it doesn’t seem to last--at least, that’s my notion formed over the last 35 years. The above-average precipitation, even if it doesn’t add to the snow pack, does build the ground water, and helps next year’s river level.

From late February, when the ice breaks up, through early April we will be fishing for steelhead near Salmon. Fishermen stay in a local motel, and we are back in town by suppertime. We fish from a drift boat, two fishermen per boat, small heater, lunch, and basic tackle furnished. Give me a call to check on current fishing conditions.

James Ellsworth
Middle Fork River Expeditions
800-801-5146
www.idahorivers.com

मिद्दले फोर्क रिवर एक्स्पेदिशन्स

Snow, and lots of it, has been piling up across the west. Prodigious amounts have accumulated in regions around the Middle Fork, Main Salmon, and Rogue rivers. All that snow bodes well for the 2008 rafting season and we're hoping you can join us. You'll have a wonderful vacation, no passport is needed and the dollar is still strong and worth a full buck on our trips. Call us to reserve a date.

Middle Fork River Expeditions

800-801-5146