Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Middle Fork of the Salmon
The main event of Los Flemings summer 2019 was the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Six days to go nearly 100 miles through a portion of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho. We had a full complement of 24 in our party with 6 rafts, 5 kayaks, 3 duckies and one SUP. We had a nice medium flow, beautiful weather and a solid group of fellow river runners.
Rigged boats and loaded at Boundary Creek on July 14. The most exciting part was sending fully loaded rafts down this ramp to the river.
Set off from Boundary Creek on July 15 and had our first lunch on the river while sitting in the hot
springs at Trail Flat camp. The first day was very tight and technical and the big rafts got stuck on a few rocks but had no trouble with the bigger rapids - Murph's Hole and Velvet Falls. At lunch we pulled out the double ducky and Mame spent the rest of the trip zipping around with various passengers. Our first camp was Sheepeater with more hot springs for soaking.
Day 2 was Sheepeater Camp to Lost Oak Camp, our longest mileage day. Got some help rowing from the kids. Jack and Ford rowed 'Viking style' to accommodate Jack's broken wrist.
Across from our camp at Lost Oak was the most dramatic hot spring of the trip at Sunflower Flats. The springs came down a hill and pooled on a little cliff overlooking the river.
Day 3 was Lost Oak to Shelf Camp. Stopped for short side hike to pictographs and Sam did more rowing.
Day 4 - Shelf Camp to Wilson Creek. Main event was Tappan Falls and then ice cream at the Flying B ranch.
Day 5 - Wilson Creek to Ship Island Camp. Stopped along the way for the teens to hike up and run down Big Creek. This also marked our entrance into the Impassable Canyon.
Rigged boats and loaded at Boundary Creek on July 14. The most exciting part was sending fully loaded rafts down this ramp to the river.
Set off from Boundary Creek on July 15 and had our first lunch on the river while sitting in the hot springs at Trail Flat camp. The first day was very tight and technical and the big rafts got stuck on a few rocks but had no trouble with the bigger rapids - Murph's Hole and Velvet Falls. At lunch we pulled out the double ducky and Mame spent the rest of the trip zipping around with various passengers. Our first camp was Sheepeater with more hot springs for soaking.
Across from our camp at Lost Oak was the most dramatic hot spring of the trip at Sunflower Flats. The springs came down a hill and pooled on a little cliff overlooking the river.
Day 3 was Lost Oak to Shelf Camp. Stopped for short side hike to pictographs and Sam did more rowing.
Day 4 - Shelf Camp to Wilson Creek. Main event was Tappan Falls and then ice cream at the Flying B ranch. |
| Mame levitating while watching big horn sheep |
Day 6 - Ship Island to Cache Bar boat ramp - the take out
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| Our crew on the last morning |
# posted by ben @ 9/18/2019 
