Middle fork

Just got off the middle fork of the salmon. This was my second trip down, both at high water. Level was 6.8 ft when we launched and slowly dropped to just below 6 ft by the time we got off. It was myself and Johnny although we met up with our friend Jo and a couple of her friends who were also doing a self support. Great fun, high water, hotsprings and camping. I love coming preseason when the river is running fast and cold. Nary a gaper in sight and we only saw a few parties the whole time. Current is cooking at this level so it is easy to make miles. We did 43 on our biggest day.

En route

Sweet old school Idaho rig in Stanley 

I made this sweet breakdown firepan for the trip. It's 1/8" aluminum with steel baking sheets on the bottom. 12x15 with 3" sides

Johnny at Marsh Creek Putin

Boundary creek after a successful descent of Marsh Creek

Joe bump camp

Hiking to sheepeater hotsprings

Sheepeater hotsprings

Evening hike back to camp

Late night campfire loungin

Sunflower hot springs

Loon creek

Wollard wall camp

Waterfalls creek

We stopped at the big creek confluence, ditched our gear, and proceeded to hike 4 miles up the canyon to paddle this seldom run whitewater gem. It was a brutal hike but the whitewater was worth it. This creek is hundreds of miles from anything and the only other way in is to fly up to an airstrip up the canyon. Being skids we opted for the free albeit it painful shuttle up the creek. Amazing fast paced iv+ creeking. We ran loon creek gorge last trip and I have to say this run was every bit as sweet. Gotta love side creekin. Still have a few more I wanna check out next trip like the bottom mile of class v on camas cr, and the rapid river. Tributaries in the middle of nowhere are fun!

Otter bar camp was pretty washed out but our original camp upstream was a flooded sloping cobble bar with tons of poison ivy and only one tent site. We snagged this little beach to make our last camp

Amazing fun! Can't wait to go back. High water in Idaho has become a yearly ritual for Johnny and I and it's great to crash thru huge waves with good friends