Whitewater Rafting News

Our snowpack is below average at this point, about 70%. At the beginning of December, the snowpack was a strong average, but December was mild and dry. A good snowstorm can boost the snowpack several per centage points, while each clear, dry day tends to erode the snowpack a point a day.

If the current trend continues, floating will start earlier in June. The Boundary Creek road will melt out earlier, and river levels will be lower and safer in early June. That also means that we will be flying trips into Indian Creek to start earlier. We did go into this winter with good ground water and fall precipitation, so that will help sustain river flows. The Salmon River near Salmon was above average in flow level all fall. If we have a reduced peak high water, the new rapids on the Main may persist. Last summer they weren't a problem for float boats, but the power boats had trouble, and the jet-back trips basically didn't happen.

The mild winter is easy on wildlife, with much of the big game winter range snow-free. Temperatures have also been relatively mild, so winter stress is less. That will show up next spring in better birth rate and stronger young.

Reservations are stronger this year at this point, with a couple of Middle Fork trips full, but we still have space available on most trips.

Fall is about over, winter beginning in Salmon River country. We have gotten several inches of snow in the last few days, with ankle-deep accumulation. There has not been any ice in the river near Salmon yet, but I expect to have ice tomorrow--supposed to be about 8 degrees tonight, then warm up again. The fall has been mild, reflected in the snow report--83% average snow pack this morning, up from 50s just a few days ago, while precipitation is 109% of average. The river near Salmon stayed higher than average all fall, indicating good ground water, and the above-average precipitation this fall will also help.

We had a couple of trips on the Lower Salmon in early fall, then were busy with steelhead fishing through the rest of the fall. That's about over now, so it's time to start thinking about next summer's trips. We have one trip booked full, and some other reservations, but have space on most dates. Dates on the Main Salmon will be the same. Middle Fork dates will be the same except in September; we have the 9th and 23rd this year. Trips deposited by the first of the year will lock in 2011 rates, but I probably will raise rates this year. I haven't for several years, but, even though inflation is supposed to be minimal, everything I buy is sure going up--gas, groceries, insurance, equipment, postage, transportation, fees, on and on.

This was a very unusual summer. Spring was very late, delaying snow melt, creating a snowpack at the beginning of summer that was more than double the average. The stage was set for an extreme high runoff--but it didn't happen. The river stayed relatively high, in the 6's on the Middle Fork, for weeks but the weather never warmed enough for a high spike. The Middle Fork was still at 2.5 in mid-August--little need to fly trips this year. River temperature stayed cool, in the upper 60s on the Main Salmon in early August, when we would exptect mid-70s. Flowering stages were at least two weeks late. Our 7 July trip had about the same flowers in the same sections of the river as out 20 June trip usually has--and water lever was higher than we sometimes have on 20 June.

The high flows meant many people delayed trips this year. The Boundary Creek road to the Middle Fork did not melt out until mid-June, and high flows kept many people off the river. We had a trip scheduled for 28 June on the Main and rescheduled it until August. Fortunately the whole group was able to rearrange their time. On the 28th the river was 8.1 at Corn Creek and still rising. Stephanie and I flew the river that morning. Most things were flooded out but Whiplash was pretty ugly.

There was little change on the Middle Fork this summer, but the Main had two new rapids, formed by slides in the spring. By mid-summer they were no big deal for float boats, but a very big deal for jet boats. Jet-back trips were nearly all cancelled, so there was almost no jet boat activity this summer. These rapids survived a long high water this spring without washing out. Maybe a higher spike next spring will change them--but there is no way to know now. Usually new rapids shift around in the first few years, so it would be reasonable to expect some changes, but Tappen III on the Middle Fork, which was a blow-out rapid, hasn't changed much in the last 3 years.

25 June 2011: We probably reached peak river flow yesterday. The Middle Fork reached 7.15 at Thomas Creek, the Main 9.8 at Corn Creek, the Lower about 80,000 cfs at Whitebird. This morning levels are a little lower, even though we have had several clear days, so I suspect we are on the way down. This is extremely late for the river to peak. The spring has been rainy and overcast, few sunny days until just lately. The river came up moderately, and stayed there for a long time, slowly releasing the snowpack without the major spike in flow that a few hot days earlier in the month would have produced.

We rescheduled our 28 June Main Salmon trip until later in the summer due to the river level, and will have a much nicer trip. We still have space available on many trips; call day, evening, or weekend for any details.

We are offering a special on the 28 June Main Salmon trip--$1000 instead of the regular rate of $1450. A couple of people had to reschedule their trip to later in the summer, but we had already committed to boatmen,so we hope to replace those seats and cut our loss.

This is a very strange water year. This morning our snowpack is 250% of average for this date. Through the winter we bounced from just under to just over average, but the spring has been so cool that we haven't had the normal snowmelt to reduce the snowpack and bring the river up. The precipitation for the year is about 110%, so the high snowpack is due to lack of melt, not huge amount of snowfall. The Middle Fork is only about 5 feet on the guage now, up but certainly not high water--and in many years the peak of high water would have occurred by this date. When we finally get some warmer--normal--temperatures, there is a good chance that there will be extreme, possibly record-breaking, high flows. A trip could launch at reasonable levels, but have a major rise in river level during the trip. I hope nobody has problems. We have cancelled our 11 June trip because of this uncertainy.

18 May 2011: The spring has been cool, with plants stages a couple of weeks late--leaves coming out, flowers blooming, etc. We finally have balsamroot flowers in full bloom around the house, at 4500 feet elevation. Cottonwood leaves are nearly fully out. Snowmelt has been delayed, and because of that snowpack is increasing, several per centage points each day. This morning it is 163% of average for the Salmon River basin. As winter ended, our snowpack was just under average. River levels had been coming up, but have dropped in the last few days. The Middle Fork was at 6.5 feet three days ago, but is only about 5 feet this morning, with cooler weather the last few days. As we get warmer weather, the river will come up dramatically.
Boaters should use caution in getting on the river during these conditions, and be alert for rising river levels. There is potential for record-breaking high flows in the next 3-4 weeks, depending on temperature.
There will be some benefit, however, from a surge of high water. There have been several rock slides into the river in the last few years that need to be flushed out, including the new one on the Main Salmon at Black Creek that came in about the first of April. I flew over it a few days ago, though it is difficult to get much real detail from the air, and somewhat pointless, since the rapid is sure to change with peak run-off. Salmon Falls, though, was flooded out by the new blockage. I would like to see House of Rocks and the approach to Pistol Creek on the Middle Fork relieved, too.
The delayed run-off should extend the period before low water requires flying Middle Fork trips into Indian Creek.

We have space available on most trips at this point. Give us a call.

Weather continues cool and rainy. It is snowing outside my window right now. Spring is late, only a few wildflowers blooming. Fields in the Salmon area area are getting green, and deer are enjoying it. We were in Stanley for a meeting earlier in the week, 16 degrees there in the am, solid snow cover. Downstream a few miles from Stanley the fields along the river were bare, with lots of deer and elk along the road.
There has been little melting of the high-elevation snowpack, which is now at 120% of average, and the river has not begun to rise yet. Conditions are developing for a major surge of the river when things finally warm up. We need a good high water to flush out the new rapid on the Main Salmon--which undoubtedly will happen before our season starts. The rapid is apparently pretty serious--though a jet boat has run it. The log jam downstream apparently now has a sneak past one end.
Trips at the beginning of June maybe impacted by the projected high flows, but we should have good water later in the summer, with less flying on Middle Fork trips.
We still have space available on many trips on both Middle Fork and Main Salmon.

There is a new rapid on the Main Salmon just below Salmon Falls. There was a blow-out last Friday in Black Creek which produced a barrier of rock and gravel across the river, and downstream a ways a barrier of logs. The rumor is that there was a micro-burst event there, although Friday was a very warm day that produced quite a bit of snow melt, and Black Creek is a south-facing drainage. I have not seen it yet, might fly down to look at it.

Without doubt it will clean up considerably during high water. There is little activity on the river now, so minimal disruption. However, it is a reminder that the river is dynamic.

Spring is coming here, though late. Grass is tinging the south slopes, elk and deer are grazing the first bit of green. Ospreys returned abruptly on the 30th of March. Herons moved onto their nests about the same time. Meadowlarks showed up a couple of days ago. The river got muddy briefly last Friday but with cooler, overcast weather yet again this week, it has cleared. We have had a great deal of overcast, cool weather this winter and spring. Snowpack is a little over 100% of average basin-wide.

We are still fishing for steelhead, though the time remaining is very short. Fish are beginning to make spawning beds in the shallows.

4 March 2011

 The Salmon River near Salmon is 35 degrees and off-color this morning.  Visibility is less than a foot.  Warmer weather, with nights that stayed above freezing in mid-week, started some melt of valley snow.  The valley floor is still mostly white, so there is quite a bit of run-off potentia remainingl.  Yesterday afternoon the river began to get color.  This morning air temperature is 20 degrees, so there is no melting, at least until afternoon.  The river may clear as yesterday's melt flushes out.  The next several days are predicted to be freezing at night, so maybe the melt will moderate enough to allow fishing.

There were several days of good fishing last week until the river went out yesterday.

Ice flows down the river most days now, so steelhead fishing is erraticuntil spring. Our snowpack at this point is below average, after being lowthrough the fall. Early snowfall is important to river flows the followingsummer. The fall snow seems to pack down, freeze hard, and last better. Latewinter snow may bring the snowpack average up, but it doesn't seem to last--atleast, that's my notion formed over the last 35 years. The lower flow meansthat June Middle Fork dates will be more viable,less likely to have water toohigh, while we would begin flying late-summer trips into Indian Creek earlier.On the Main Salmon, of course, low water is not an issue.

Last winter was moderate, with somewhat below normal snow pack--offset by avery wet June, so that we had decent river levels through the summer. Our highwater was a long, even, moderate peak--no high, flushing, spikes. The blowoutsof 08 in the upper river remained, but were not a big problem. There was arumor of a storm in that area in the early fall that put more material in theriver in both spots, but I haven't been there to see. The blowout in Tappan IIIthat occurred in the same storm changed a lot in high water, still a dramaticrapid but not the risk of 08.

We have space available on most of our summer trips at this point, withmore calls and reservations so far than at this point in the last couple ofyears--maybe an indication that the recession is wearing out. Give me a callabout space or group composition on specific trips.