The fish were biting better today, at least for a while.

My walk tonight.

I am just getting home from an eight-day seven-night float trip on the Middle Fork Salmon River. It was fantastic. I'm in my early 50s, and I was by far the youngest in our group. The permit holder and his wife have each been putting in for this permit for 40 years, and neither has ever had the permit before. Water level was near ideal - starting at about 4.5 feet and
falling to about 3.75.


We put in at Boundary Creek, just below Dagger Falls. Marsh Creek and Bear Valley Creek come together shortly above Dagger to form the Middle Fork Salmon.



I didn't get many pictures on the water the first few days. I was the only one on my boat, and the river is so continuous, I never could really even look at my map. After 25 miles, it gets a little less continuous and more pool-drop. Even then, I was mostly navigating, so not many pictures. In some calm water, I got an image of my view.



Some people, especially commercial outfitters, run sweep boats down the Middle Fork and Main Salmon Rivers. Some of these boats are HUGE. They have one giant "sweep" oar on the bow and one on the stern. They "sweep" the current and just move side-to-side. They stay in the current, and they go FAST. If one is coming up behind you, you better get out of the way.





We ate well. We had appetizers every day. My meal was a pasta dish with pesto, nuts, chiles, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, feta, artichoke hearts, and some secret ingredients. I made two salads because we had one person who didn't eat cucumbers or sweet bells, and we had another who didn't eat onions.

We all pitch in for dishes.






I made breakfast for the last day. Rolled oats and rolled rye with toppings like sunflower seeds, walnuts, dried fruit (dates, cherries, raisins, cranberries), toasted coconut, and some demerara sugar although I don't think anyone ate the sugar. I made some Canadian bacon (cured pork loin) for the folks who can't go a meal without meat. My dinner just had salami as an appetizer.


We ~had~ to stop at Sunflower Hot Springs. Mandatory! We all got a warm shower and water-massage (no soap of course -- that doesn't go in this river).


Later in the trip when we camped at Cow Creek, we hiked up to Loon Hot Springs in the morning -- a couple miles, and well worth it.




We did a lot of hiking.

We had a layover day at Camas Creek and did a few hikes up the creek and up UP UP a steep trail (separate hikes) and saw several Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep.




About an hour or so into my hike up towards the Middle Fork Peak Lookout, my sole delainated. I wisely decided to turn around and carefully go back to camp. Good thing -- a thunderstorm came up but everyone else was hiking. I got camp secured and put on my river clothes because it was too warm for rain gear.


When the weather got better again, I hiked up the creek for about an hour. I had to turn around to get back to camp in time for supper. I found a four-leafed clover. I find them at home frequently, but never found one in the woods.



We had a nice Gopher Snake in this camp. Right on! These wonderful critters eat the damn rodents that otherwise might feast on what less-clean camps spill. It's a popular camp.

We also saw some Racers on the trail, but they were too fast to get a picture.

We also had some very interesting bones -- some from a sheep, and some from a tree.


We stopped at Flying B Ranch to refill water jugs.





A couple of us hiked to Veil Cave Falls. It's really neat. It's a small column of water falling from high above an alcove you can walk behind. The water blows around in the wind. We also walked to Nugget Falls on the second to last day which is a very magical spot for me. I ran up fast so I had five minutes alone before anyone else got there. It was especially amazing because it was mostly in the shade except one beam of light that hit where the water came off the lip. The mist blows all around -- awesome.



We did a short one-mile hike that gained about 1,200 feet elevation up to Johnson Peaks. We saw more sheep, got up to an amazing saddle, and then got some spectacular views.







One of the crew found a tick later after this hike. I had found one crawling on my neck at Loon, but got her off before she bit me. We saved the tick to send to CDC to see if it was an exposure to any of the tick-borne illnesses.


We passed by Mist Falls, but didn't hike up to see it.


The last night, one of our crew decided to sleep on his boat. It's a great way to sleep. He had never done it before. My cot doesn't work on my boat; I'd like to change that because it's really a great way to go.


My boat performed well. It's a great boat, and I'm glad I named her Bumblebee.


All river trips must come to a close, and on our eighth day, we got to Cache Bar. There was a Ponderosa Pine stem out on a rock. We had rain and hail that day, but I will take that weather over full sun 90 degrees for getting stuff loaded.


We got loaded and headed out. Forty miles of muddy dirt road to North Fork, then over Banner Summit in a snowstorm about 12 hours before solstice and the beginning of summer. Wow. Found a camp on the South Payette River and set up a tarp. We woke up to 27 degrees and frost on the boat, then drove ten or twelve hours home. My passenger had another hour to get to his house. Today I get to start cleaning.






This is not a river for inexperienced oarsmen. It's a serious adventure, and it's very remote. I'm not an adrenaline junky, but I'm glad that some of these rapids limit who can visit the place without a commercial guide. We've messed some places up, but not this beautiful wilderness. I can't wait to go back. I hope maybe some day I can.