Map of Middle Fork Salmon River:
June 18: Early on the 4th day we have the Tappan Falls series of rapids.
Here’s one of the big supply boats going through.
These boats have oars in the front and back to maneuver but not on the sides so they need some current in flat water.
We had a brief stop at Camus Creek, one of the larger tributaries.
There are also private boaters on the Middle Fork, this one brought along his lucky dog.
Jake would be envious.
For a very short stretch they let Liz paddle a duckie.
Liz was back in the oar boat after lunch today because of larger rapids in the afternoon.
Haystack Rapid, one of the longer ones
Those in the duckies here were all on their second day of kayaking.
Our 4th camp was at Wilson Creek. It was still warm but now completely overcast and we got a few showers, fortunately not at critical moments sitting up tents.
We had a 1 ½ mile hike to see petroglyphs at Rattlesnake Cave.
Along the way we saw a stand-up paddleboarder in the river.
June 19: We had intermittent showers breaking camp though we did spot these mountain goats on a ridge across the river.
It rained off and on during the day so we had lunch fairly early during a weather break. Soon we passed Big Creek’s cascade into the river.
This marks the end of hiking trails along the river. For the next 18 miles to the Main Salmon the canyon is too steep. It’s a 40-mile hike out either side, as we recently learned from Jim Pfeiffer, one of our Antarctic cruise skiers who lives near Brundage. He did a 140 mile total backpacking trip here in July.
We stopped for another petroglyph.
It rained during this entire stop. We chose this as our second day in the paddle boats for the interesting rapids Porcupine, Redside and Weber on the map. Even though you get splashed more, the paddling effort kept us warmer than we would have been just riding in the oar boats.
Again we were lucky with a weather break setting up camp at Parrott Placer. But a day of rain had lowered temperatures and I spent some of the time when rain resumed before dinner in my sleeping bag to stay warm. The guides put a tent over the eating area in case the rain continued.
June 20: This was a short river day for the final 10 miles. The rain was mostly done but it stayed cool all day. We did have some exciting rapids like Rubber and Hancock, and I got a pic of Michael about to capsize his duckie here.
He quickly recovered.
We had a lunch stop just a mile before takeout. Liz with an Indian arrowhead.
The stop is called Poison Ivy Beach for that greenery just behind her.
We were off the river by 1PM but it was nearly 2 hours until we got to Salmon.
Logistics for this trip take some planning. The river companies pick you up in Stanley and return you to Salmon. Many people just coming for this trip fly into Boise and take small planes into Stanley and out of Salmon. If you’re driving you have to pay $107 to have your car shuttled from Stanley to Salmon. In our case Hertz also tacked on a $105 “extra driver fee” for our car rental. :evil:
We flew in and out of Missoula, as that was central to our 3 destinations of the Salmon River, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. On June 21 it took ~6 hours to drive from Salmon to Red Lodge. We stopped at Big Hole National Monument, a quite interesting historical site of the Aug. 9, 1877 battle with Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce Indians. These tepee poles mark the site of their camp.
Despite being ambushed at dawn and sustaining heavy casualties, many of the Nez Perce managed to counterattack, escape and elude the U.S. Cavalry for another 2 months before some escaped into Canada and the others surrendered.
June 18: Early on the 4th day we have the Tappan Falls series of rapids.
Here’s one of the big supply boats going through.
These boats have oars in the front and back to maneuver but not on the sides so they need some current in flat water.
We had a brief stop at Camus Creek, one of the larger tributaries.
There are also private boaters on the Middle Fork, this one brought along his lucky dog.
Jake would be envious.
For a very short stretch they let Liz paddle a duckie.
Liz was back in the oar boat after lunch today because of larger rapids in the afternoon.
Haystack Rapid, one of the longer ones
Those in the duckies here were all on their second day of kayaking.
Our 4th camp was at Wilson Creek. It was still warm but now completely overcast and we got a few showers, fortunately not at critical moments sitting up tents.
We had a 1 ½ mile hike to see petroglyphs at Rattlesnake Cave.
Along the way we saw a stand-up paddleboarder in the river.
June 19: We had intermittent showers breaking camp though we did spot these mountain goats on a ridge across the river.
It rained off and on during the day so we had lunch fairly early during a weather break. Soon we passed Big Creek’s cascade into the river.
This marks the end of hiking trails along the river. For the next 18 miles to the Main Salmon the canyon is too steep. It’s a 40-mile hike out either side, as we recently learned from Jim Pfeiffer, one of our Antarctic cruise skiers who lives near Brundage. He did a 140 mile total backpacking trip here in July.
We stopped for another petroglyph.
It rained during this entire stop. We chose this as our second day in the paddle boats for the interesting rapids Porcupine, Redside and Weber on the map. Even though you get splashed more, the paddling effort kept us warmer than we would have been just riding in the oar boats.
Again we were lucky with a weather break setting up camp at Parrott Placer. But a day of rain had lowered temperatures and I spent some of the time when rain resumed before dinner in my sleeping bag to stay warm. The guides put a tent over the eating area in case the rain continued.
June 20: This was a short river day for the final 10 miles. The rain was mostly done but it stayed cool all day. We did have some exciting rapids like Rubber and Hancock, and I got a pic of Michael about to capsize his duckie here.
He quickly recovered.
We had a lunch stop just a mile before takeout. Liz with an Indian arrowhead.
The stop is called Poison Ivy Beach for that greenery just behind her.
We were off the river by 1PM but it was nearly 2 hours until we got to Salmon.
Logistics for this trip take some planning. The river companies pick you up in Stanley and return you to Salmon. Many people just coming for this trip fly into Boise and take small planes into Stanley and out of Salmon. If you’re driving you have to pay $107 to have your car shuttled from Stanley to Salmon. In our case Hertz also tacked on a $105 “extra driver fee” for our car rental. :evil:
We flew in and out of Missoula, as that was central to our 3 destinations of the Salmon River, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. On June 21 it took ~6 hours to drive from Salmon to Red Lodge. We stopped at Big Hole National Monument, a quite interesting historical site of the Aug. 9, 1877 battle with Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce Indians. These tepee poles mark the site of their camp.
Despite being ambushed at dawn and sustaining heavy casualties, many of the Nez Perce managed to counterattack, escape and elude the U.S. Cavalry for another 2 months before some escaped into Canada and the others surrendered.
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