Middle Fork Salmon Paddle Raft at High Water
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- Paddling rafting (R3) the Middle Fork of The Salmon at high water 5/30/2022-6/2/2022. River was at 6.2ft when we put on, trending downward. We ran Marsh Creek and the Middle Fork. Thanks for watching.
Rafters: Ben Gira, Ben Mors & Brian Olson
Kayakers: Andy & Ian McFarland
Raft: @airewhitewater 130e
#floatingonaire
Awesome man, it’s insane to see the middle fork at high water. Great video
Thanks Sean, going to be making another video soon. Managed to pick up a permit in May.
In first weeks of May 2021... did the same trip. Plan was to put in on Marsh Creek due to all the Middle Fork access still snowed in and no rangers at any stations yet. It was a single-boat-trip R2 mode. Levels were peaking at between 6 & 6.5. Because we were solo, a first trip down, and committing to running Dagger Falls... I selected an R2-rigged 11' Creature-Craft G4-series Nargun as optimal performance and safest way to go. Trip was awesome, and we had the whole river pretty much to ourselves. If you look at your footage here @1:02 that was a river wide log-jam sweeper/strainer pile-up down both routes. See that big perfectly cut log jutting out river-right... I cut 1/2 that section of tree off using a Silky KatanaBoy folding saw. I knew it would come in handy. We also took a BigBoy 2000 to de-limb or make any walk arounds more efficient timewise. Further down in a narrow fast chute we barely eddied out to carry around two massive trees (not worth cutting out due to size and danger). Bear Creek entering river-right adds a bunch of water and speed downriver. We were warmed up and so dialed in that we said to ourselves stay focused, stay sharp. I knew on a dime (rehearsed in my mind so many times) precisely where we had to be going over apex of Dagger and descending into the froth chute below. Screw taking any pics, video etc... We have to focus on ourselves and nail this! Our line was perfect, and gravity did the rest. Before you knew it... we were flying by the boat ramp put-in and into the Middle-Fork. Velvet has a ton of traction at this water level on smaller/lighter boats... even well after passing it. Pistol has mystery-currents all-round, and there are no features sticking up. Great video... I know at these water levels in a single raft... footage is truly hard to get. AIRE 130E series would be my first raft choice for 13' self-bailers. Party of 3 (I feel) was also really beneficial vs R2. Way to stay in (and w/) the boat!!!
Awesome! That’s sounds like a great trip! I’ve never paddled a creature craft I bet that would be pretty fun!
So cool! Thanks! My friend and I R2 a 10 ft boat at this water level last yr. I didn't record any of it, but this is exactly what it was. Thank you so much. Even this footage doesn't do the huge waves justice!
Thanks for showing me around. My first time down the Middle Fork was 50 years ago this summer.
Man this looks like an incredible trip!! Thanks for sharing this 🤙🏻
Thanks for watching!
My dad floated the Middle Fork in early June, 1964 with a relatively small raft.....yes that is correct 1964. I was 9 years old at the time and I accompanied my mom on the drive from Nampa, ID to pick him and his good friend up on the Salmon River just a a few mile below where the Middle Fork empties into the main Salmon. Anyway, it was quite the adventure for him back in the day and he had many stories. The scariest moment for him was Velvet Falls. I see that you had fun there also some 58 years later. Great video!!! Really enjoyed it.
That’s really awesome! 1964 that had to have been an awesome adventure! Thanks for sharing that.
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing! I hit the MF in my packraft July 2021 at 1.6, lol. Different river fo sho! 😂
Definitely I’ve done it at that level also, love the low water trips!
Thanks for making the effort to get this all put together. Wild ride for a 13' boat.
Thanks for watching! The videos will get better I promise 😂, it was a fun ride!
The videos are great, you should be proud!
Thanks for the video. It nice to got an idea of what we're in for. We are putting on in a couple days with similar flow to when you filmed it.
Great video! Excellent job, I'd say. And I have a Force 6 pfd like yours, love it! SYOTR!
Thanks! yeah I love that PFD, lots of floatation and not super bulky
I agree Brian. I sing praises to the Force 6 often, to whoever will listen. I spent too long underwater a couple years ago on Giant Gap, and always wear high float since.
Looks like a blast! Well done!
Thanks!
great video man.
such a great video to watch. I've done the Middle Fork (put in below Dagger) in a WW canoe at very low water and this is a whole different river. We probably all would have died within 5 minutes at this level... maybe 6?
Still not as high as we did it years back at flood stages (it was 6.66 feet at the air-strip camp 3 days after we put in and we were doing full days floats in like 2-3 hours and had to camp way up in the trees since everything was underwater). Such a great float though... Idaho is my happy place.
At that water level lower Cliffside was fucked!
I agree 100%, Lower Cliffside was some of the biggest holes we saw on the river
I've got a June 10th permit. Nice to get an idea of what it may be like (if the log jams flush out). Fingers crossed I don't have to fly into Indian Creek.
Yeah, fingers crossed for sure! My favorite part of the river is everything before Indian, flying in is still better than nothing but also a little bit of a bummer at the same time. I might be doing a trip in May, if I do, I'll definitely make a video so be on the lookout for that. And if I'm not on a trip I'm still going to hike in the first chance I get to look at what, if anything has changed around Ramshorn and Velvet.
@@thewhitewaterstate A true service to us all. Thanks!
@@thewhitewaterstate Curious to know what's going on (or what's to become) regarding the significant wash and log jamming in the Middle-Fork above Indian???
Great video Brian! Curious how your camera was mounted. Was it just attached to your helmet?
How was ski jump?
Ski Jump was pretty big for sure! We ran it on the right, unfortunately didn't get it on video.
@@thewhitewaterstate great video!
@@joshpurkiss3965 Thanks Josh appreciate you watching!
Videos like this being posted here and on social media have destroyed the outdoors in Idaho.
How so?