Wednesday, July 30, 2008

July 14-19, 2008 Main Salmon River Trip



Thank you all for a spectacular trip!

July 24 - 29, 2008 Middle Fork Trip

Perfect weather, brand new rapids and new friends made for a great week of rafting! Thanks for a wonderful trip. Below are some pictures and a video. Jim posted some GREAT photos (obviously he has much more of a "camera eye" than some of our guides) as a gallery online. To access his photo gallery, please click here.










Wednesday, July 23, 2008

July 16-21, 2008 Middle Fork Trip

Updated August 16th, 2008:
Kate sent us some photos from this trip. Thanks for sending! Here they are:







Monday, July 14, 2008

July 8 - 13, 2008 Middle Fork River Trip

What a trip! When we launched the river was at a fun level of 3.1 feet. Our lead guide, Carl B., thought he had seen it all, that is until Door's rock where Jason decided to take the more interesting route.

Although he appears wrapped,
Jason is just "stopped" briefly to "scout" the rapids downstream:


Later that night, while camped at Fire Island, Momma bear and her two cubs came down to see if we had any left overs from dinner. She was disappointed to see though that we had strapped down all of our coolers-except for one-so she settled with drinking five of our beers and eating Skip's bagels. All the guides stayed up that night, to make sure our "guest" wouldn't get into too much trouble. Around 6 AM the bears said good bye to our camp and headed off downstream.

Dutch oven master and IRJ guide, Andy Wilkin,
cooks up a delicious meal for the bears:


The bears were after the cake, but luckily we ate it first:

Other highlights include the wild surf at Tappan falls (shown in the video), night five elephant croquet, Ken's many swims, beautiful Vail falls and of course, Miss Lick-a-Chick!

Thank you all for a fantastic trip. We had a wonderful time and we're looking forward to seeing you again in 2010!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

July 6 - 11, 2008 Main Salmon River Trip

The Salmon was flowing at 23,000 CFS (Whitebird) when we launched on July 6th. With high flows, this Main Salmon trip featured relaxing "sleep ins" and big water. Our first night was spent at Lower Devil's Teeth. The next day we spent some time soaking at Barth Hotsprings before finding home at Bruin. That evening a few of us boated a paddle boat across the river and then hiked to the top of a cliff.

On our third day we ran the big stuff. Bailey, Five-Mile, Split Rock, Big Mallard, Elk Horn, and Growler were the main highlights. We camped at Paine Bar. The following morning we all slept in and got on the water just before noon. We visited Buckskin Bill's before eating lunch at Cove Camp, just below the South Fork confluence. Later, we pulled into Warren Creek for camp where the wine poured freely and a few kayakers explored Warren Creek. Our fifth day on the river found us hiking Indian Creek and then battling the wind on the way to Maxwell. The highlight of Maxwell was the boat slide and kayak surfing.

Thank you all for an excellent trip on the river. It was an absolute blast floating with each one of you and swapping river stories. We hope to see you on the river again!













Saturday, July 12, 2008

June 30 - July 5, 2008 Middle Fork Trip

On June 30th, 2008, at just a smidgen under 4.0 feet at the gauge, Idaho River Journeys launched from Boundary Creek with Boy Scout Troop 223 from Los Angeles, CA. Troop 223 has molded more Eagle Scouts than any other Boy Scout troop in the country. In fact, one of our paddle boats on the first day was 100% Eagle Scouts.

The first night of the trip was spent at John's Camp, which had just reopened after being closed for fire recovery. It was very interesting sleeping in a camp which had burned the previous year because a lot of little flowers and grasses were beginning to pop back up. Our remaining camps for the trip were: Upper Jackass, Big Loon, Little Pine, and Ship Island.

Upper Jackass offered some spectacular footage of other groups coming through the big hole at the bottom of Jackass Rapid. At Loon Creek we went up to the hot spring, kayaked the creek, fished the mouth, and did a little bit of swimming. On our fifth morning, about half our group left camp at 5:30 A.M. for a stroll up to the top of the Little Pine Ridge to catch the sun rise. When we got to the top, some big horn sheep were waiting for us.

Thanks for joining us, Troop 223. It was a pleasure floating with all of you and we hope to see you on the river again!

Guides:
Andrew W.
Dick W.
Jason
Erin S.
Will V.
Matt V.
Skip V.










Fire Recovery on the Middle Fork

In August of 2007, the upper stretch of the Middle Fork was exposed to a high intensity fire that temporarily closed the river down. Until recently, some of the most popular campsites have been closed for the start of the 2008 season due to large trees that could potentially fall in a big wind storm.

On our June 30th Middle Fork launch, we had the privilege to camp at John's camp on the first night. This was a camp that had seen some of the most intense fire activity in 2007. Thankfully, it looks like things have begun to start sprouting.

Although it will be years and decades before Middle Fork boaters see green trees reminiscent of years past, this picture offers a reminder that fires are the norm and that the forest will recover. It could take awhile but, hey, we're on river time.

A lone flower at John's Camp. June 30th, 2008

June 28 - July 3, 2008 Main Salmon River Trip

With healthy flows at Corn Creek our group pushed out headed for a great week of Main Salmon country. Our first night was spent at Little Squaw followed by Bruin, Groundhog, Warren, and lastly, California Creek. We witnessed a fair amount of duckie carnage but all in good fun and we had a spectacular trip. Thank you to those who made this trip memorable, can't wait to see you all on the water again!

Guides and Trainees:
Bob V.
Jo S.
Phil F.
Beth C.
Bryan S.
Matt B.

Sean W. posted a ton of photos on an online gallery. Click here to check it out. Thanks Sean!