Trip report on Middle Fork of the Salmon
Pictures:
www.rapids2.myphotoalbum.com
Two of our best friends turned 50 this summer, so what better way to
celebrate than a trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon, or so we hoped. In
January, we all enter the lottery for the Rogue River, the Main Salmon, and
Middle Fork of the Salmon with plan B, the unpermitted lower section of the
Salmon. Unfortunately, no one was successful in winning a permit on any of
the three rivers, but as summer progressed the odds of picking up a canceled
permit for either of the Salmon Rivers came greater due to low flows. One of
our birthday boys was able to pick up a canceled permit for the Middle Fork,
with a launch date of August 5. Now we started the game of watching the
river gauge drop. Above 1.8 feet we weren't overly concerned, as two years
ago Dave and I had done a commercial trip (1.9 feet) with another couple and
their tandem canoe, where we had to deadhead in with the outfitters rafts
and sweep boat, and us in our canoes the day before our official launch date
.. This resulted in doing the first 25 miles in one day which went smoothly,
and to our benefit, we didn't have to carry our gear in the canoe with us.
Note: if you choose to do a commercial trip, and bring your own canoe,
you're allowed to deadhead in with the outfitters boats if it's a tandem as
it will not fit on the airplanes flying into Indian Creek. We went this
route in 1994 and in 2005.
When the gauge dropped down to 1.75 feet, I made a few phone calls to see
what we might be getting ourselves into launching from Boundary Creek with
the raft. The general consensus was that if we packed light, we shouldn't
have too many problems. Just make sure we scouted Sulfur Springs, The
Chutes, and definitely the Lake Creek Rapid. Our next concerns were the
fires that were happening in the area, but as of Friday the 3rd, the road to
Boundary Creek was still open, but when we stopped at the Lowman Ranger
Station on Saturday, we discovered that the Main Salmon had just been closed
due to fires, and we were also fortunate enough to pick up the new edition
of the river guide to in the Middle Fork of the Salmon. At least we thought
we were fortunate, but as we shortly discovered after leaving Boundary Creek
, the new map is minus the topo lines, which we found incredibly
frustrating. The old map, with topo lines, had been left in the car.
We launched from Boundary Creek, 1.66 feet, on Sunday, August 5 with a 14
foot oar frame raft with Mike and Bryce, Damien in the inflatable kayak,
Dave B. in the solo canoe, our tandem canoe, and a total of six people.
There were also two other commercial groups deadheading their gear in that
day, which I took for a good sign.
The canoes ended up caring all their own personsl gear, with the raft caring
community gear, food, plus their personal gear. Dave and I in the tandem
canoe, swam about a mile below the put in after hitting a rock, leaning too
aggressively into the rock and rolling right on over. We quickly learned to
let the raft go first, so that the inflatable and the canoes could assist in
getting him free, if needed. The raft had a much more difficult time than
what we had anticipated, and we only made it to Trail Flat Camp the first
night, at mile 6.9. This is a wonderful camp, as it comes with its own hot
spring to soak tired bodies in. The alarm went off at 6 a.m., and we were on
the river by nine.
At the Chutes, we were able to watch a couple commercial rafts, mostly
empty, go through, and decided to line our raft down the first portion of
the drop and Mike rowed the rest. Dave and I portaged the far right channel
of The Chutes, Dave B. in the solo canoe, ran it but swam at the bottom.
Later that morning, Dave B. pinned his canoe, he called it a vertical pin.
It required running a rope to shore, but we did not have to utilize a z-drag
to get it off. Unfortunately, in the process, Dave's 50 foot throw rope
morphed into two 25 foot throw ropes! After another long day of dealing with
the raft stuck on rocks, we called it a day at Big Snag Camp, mile 19.1.
That evening for dinner, I made our birthday boy his favorite dinner,
sausage spinach pie with a good Cabernet and Oreo cookies for dessert. Well,
maybe the Oreo cookies weren't his favorite, but that's what he got. Next
morning, we had a hot breakfast -- blueberry pancakes and bacon -- to get us
off in the right mood. Shortly thereafter we arrived at the Lake Creek
Rapid. After walking the length of the entire drop, we decided that we would
line the raft down the top past the big pine, and Mike felt confident about
negotiating the rest of the drop. To be safe, though, his youngest son,
Bryce, stayed onshore, Damien, his oldest son, and the two Dave's set up
safety, just above the bottom right turn. At the last moment Mike decided to
tie off his throw rope to the end of his raft. He negotiated the four
smaller trees in the river, and then popped an oar. While retrieving the
spare, the other oar popped out. He then picked up his throw rope, and as he
launched it to shore, lost his balance falling into the cockpit, but the
fellas onshore caught the rope and were able to belay it around a tree to
swing him around the corner. The two popped oars were retrieved in the pool
below by Damien. While he was doing that, the canoes lined the upper third
of the drop on the right, then ferried across to the left side. At this
point, we noticed that there was teal plastic from somebody else's adventure
who had also come to the same conclusion about lining the drop. Below the
root wad halfway down, we ferried back across to river right and continued
on down. During this whole adventure, we provided quite the entertainment
for two backpackers watching us.
We finally made it to Indian Creek at noon, checked in with the ranger who
was also kind enough to take our excess charcoal and lighter fluid, picked
up our permit tags, ate lunch and back on the river by 1:30 p.m. I had hoped
for doing the first 25 miles in a day and a half, but it took us 21/2 days.
This meant that for the rest of the trip we were looking at an average of 17
mile days. The ranger felt the river conditions would improve considerably
once we got below Marble Creek at mile 31.6.
Our third night was spent at Sunflower Flat Camp and Hot Spring at mile
32.6. We arrived about 4 p.m. that afternoon, finding a commercial group
enjoying the facilities. It was somewhat awkward trying to get our camp set
up as this is considered a small camp with a capacity of 10 people, and the
commercial group stayed until about 5 p.m.. The next morning, I hit the
snooze button on the alarm twice, so I didn't wake people until 6:30 a.m.,
we had 19.2 miles ahead of us today. We had a nice day today, unfortunately
because of the miles we had to do, we weren't able to check out Whitey Cox
or Loon Creek Hot Springs. During lunch, we noticed a billowing column of
smoke erupt from behind the ridge line down river and to our right. A hot
spot had blown up. Boating past the fire after lunch we could see smoke
curling up around trees across a large part of the forest up the drainage.
The fourth night, Wednesday, we were at Cave Camp, mile 51.8, across from
Hospital Bar Hot Spring. Again, a really nice camp spot, and we all slept
out under the stars. Up again at 6 a.m., as we were looking at a 17 mile day
with several large drops ahead of us. The one I'm really worried about is
Haystack-Bernard Rapid. Two years ago, this had a rather shallow rocky
entrance to it, and that was with a third of a foot more water too. First
was the Tappan Fall's series though. For Mike in the raft it was a piece of
cake. The canoes quickly decided to portage Tappan Falls, with Damien's help
it went quickly. We warned Mike that below the Flying B, he would see a
large logjam pile on river left at the top of a sharp right hand bend, and
that was where we need to scout Haystack-Bernard from. However, the logjam
was no longer there, and about a third of the way it down the drop Mike got
hung up pretty good on a rock. Out came the ropes and with a little rocking
and rolling, we were able to work him free. Fortunately, our next camp,
Short Creek was just below the drop. Plenty of sand, but no shade. A couple
of hours later, it started raining ash. We set up a tarp over the cooking
area. Dave and I decided to set up our tent, but the others decided to sleep
under the stars again. About 4 a.m. we had a five minute downpour (which
glued the ash to our tent), and another one at about 6 a.m. as a wake-up
call.
Today, Thursday, we have 16.1 miles ahead of us. We caught up with another
private group scouting Waterfall Creek Rapids, consisting of a raft and
three IK's who had had their own set of adventures. They had flown into
Indian Creek, but because of the smoke issues, their plane dropped them off
a day later than scheduled. And unfortunately, on day one, they broke two
different oars. Fortunately, they had brought two spares. We played
leapfrog with them for the rest of the day. At Elk Bar Camp we encountered a
commercial group that had flipped a gear boat up river, and had sleeping
bags decorating the landscape in hopes that they would dry quickly. After
lunch, another commercial group passed us, with what had to be the most
entertaining sight of the entire trip: an oar frame with mom sitting in the
middle, reading to herself the newest Harry Potter book, carefully holding
it up so it wouldn't get splashed, her two children sitting on either side,
and the guide with a bemused expression on his face.
Our last night, Lightning Strike Camp, at mile 85. Another beautiful sandy
spot with shade, and wind. I warned the guys that I was going to set the
alarm for 5:30 a.m. the next morning, and they all hoped that meant a hot
breakfast of pancakes and bacon again. Wishful thinking -- especially if we
want to get to the takeout by noontime. Friday, 11.9 miles today. Everybody
got up in a good mood, and we were on the river a little after 8 a.m. We
weren't the only ones with an early start. Today the river corridor seemed
to be getting more crowded with all the different groups, but was actually
beneficial for us. The other guides gave us good advice about running
several drops so we didn't have to scout. Thank you! We got to Stoddard Bar
at noontime with only one commercial group ahead of us. De-rigging went
smoothly, and we were loaded up by 1:30 p.m. Unfortunately, I think, we
upset the routines of the different commercial groups unloading their
customers, but oh well. I had no desire to run Cramer Rapid in the canoes as
two years ago it really looked nasty. The milkshakes in Shoup are awesome.
Looking back on the trip, Mike and I did not enjoy the first three days at
all. The other three had a blast . Overall, it was a wonderful private trip,
but a lot more work than private trips on the Main at this low flow. If I
were to do it again, I would seriously look into flying everything in to
Indian Creek. Dave says he would just fly in the raft. If we had packed
lighter, would it make a difference? It's hard to say. Short of going
backpack style. We already considerably reduced weight as it was -- no raft
table or bulk propane tank, for starters. Being the only female on a trip
also has its drawbacks, although I didn't do dishes! I do think that the
collective IQ of an almost all-male group has a tendency to deteriorate over
time. Ideally, the weather could have been a bit warmer. As it was, I lived
in a breathable-fabric dry suit for seven days (my preference over a wet
suit).
So for those who follow, all that red on the rocks was from our Dimension,
and the teal from David B.'s Genesis.
We will be back...................
Carol
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