Middle Fork of the Salmon River

Man, I am sooo behind on this blog!  When we last left off it was the end of summer.  Pauly took me on yet another adventure.  The Middle Fork of the Salmon River.  I've been there before a few times.  This time it was a little different.  This time, I paddled myself down the 100 miles of one of the most beautiful rivers I have been on.  The fall colors were unreal.  The hot springs were wonderful.  The weather was phenomenal. There were 7 of us.  Pauly, myself, Shannon, Haley, Wiley, Johnny A, and Mr. MP.  It was a great group of wonderful people and we made some fantastic memories.  I had an amazing adventure.   I can't wait to do it again next year.   I would like to thank my mom and my mother in law for babysitting so that I was able to go.  Thanks you 2 great ladies.  I really enjoyed that break from the mom role to just BE for a week and to spend some time with Pauly and some great friends.  

This is the Snow bunny.  It is a ma and pa fast food place in Sun Valley.  We stopped for some grease on the way up.  Years ago, Paul flew for Salmon Air flying freight.  He used to come hang at the  Snow bunny for hours and sit and read books in between flights. 

 

 This is the boat ramp.  Crazy, I know but oh so cool.  There was a group of rafters that we bumped into several times throughout the week.  They were pin balling from rock to rock.  I'm glad I was in a duckie.

 

Day 1: Pauly is at his most happiest here, the anticipation of the week ahead.  Packing all his stuff for the week into his boat.  So that we can put on the river and head down to our first camp.   His favorite hot spring, Trail Flats.

 Shannon and I standing on the ramp.  I am so grateful for her friendship.  She was always there to help me on the water if I needed it.  And, I did.  Thanks:)

 

Here we are at Dagger Falls.  In the past we have come in July and have seen GIANT salmon jumping the falls to head for the Columbia river gorge.  Such a beautiful and amazing place.

Here we go!  Group shot before we put in.  With the whole week ahead of us and some big rapids to start.  Let's just say I was a little ascaird.

Wiley and Haley.  I had never met Haley before.  She was a fellow duckier, only she paddled a tandem and she brought her pillow and her ditch boots.  She is a great person and I really enjoyed getting to know her on this trip.

Camp #1 Trail Flats Hot Spring.  Only 7 miles from the put in but the catch up day the next day was worth it.  It was rainy and Pauly and I sat in the hot spring and watched the steam float up to the sky as the raindrops made swirls in the pool around us.

We packed everything into our boats, which meant we brought some tuna and some salmon packets, and cheese and crackers and noodles.  This first dinner we brought an Elk roast, and roasted us up some in the coals.  Paul and I had noodles (he cooked every meal for me and did the dishes) while the outdoor gourmet chef Miss Shannon made herself some pizza.  It was delicious.

Camp #2 Marble Creek.  Marble creek is a beautiful camp.  The river slows into a big pool before speeding into the marble creek wave.  There we had a quiet evening of fly fishing and general sitting around the fire laughing and telling stories. 

MP and Wiley were on the cliff watching the big fish below that Paul was trying to catch.

Ponderosa Pines frame the Marble Creek Wave. Check out the backdrop of those rich autumn colors across the river.

Paul out fished us all, he had some nice catches, but this was the biggest. 

Yes I painted his toes blue the first night.

I tried fishing for a while but wasn't lucky enough to snag one.

Shannon Fishing off the cliff trying to get the monster hiding below.

Marble Creek Wave and Johnny A. 

Shannon gets a wave to the face as she comes through.

Yep, look at me go!  I have video footage...it's awesome I will post it later.
The only Kayak swim we had the whole week.  MP had a rough time on this wave. 


  Shannon made him do lots of rolls after this.


Haley had a clean run and came out with a huge grin for the camera.
 

 Wiley styled the whole river.  He helped me roll my boat over a few times.  I really enjoyed getting to know him a little better on the trip.

 Haley, Johnny A, and I at Indian Creek waiting for the ranger to come and go over all the official permit stuff.
 

 Pauly dropping off a rapid.  I can't remember which one, but zoom in on the beautiful foliage!

Next Camp: Loon Creek


 We taught Haley how to fly fish here.  She loved it.  It was nice and warm with the sun shining on us, a very enjoyable evening.
 
 
 I tried again
Here we are at Loon Creek.  That would be Loon creek on the left and Middle Fork on the right.  There is an air strip up above the camp and a ranch.  With horses and mules, and an outhouse and lot's of bear scat.  Let me tell you a little story about the bear scat.  The hot spring at this camp is up Loon Creek a little ways, half of a mile maybe?  Any who we all had our dinner and headed up for a soak in the hot spring with our headlamps because it was starting to get dark.  On the trail we stepped over about 8 piles of bear scat on the way up.  We were all a little uneasy because the ranger had told us that bears had been sighted along the river.  We soaked in the spring for a while and everyone headed back a few minutes before Paul and I.  The trail is on one side of the river up the side of the mountain about 20 feet above the water.  Paul had just put new batteries in his headlamp.  He was in front of me, and he lifted his head up and looked over across the river.  There were 3 pairs of silver glowing eyes staring back at us.  Holy crap! What is that the eyes are too close together to be deer!  I was a little scared!  I said to Paul, um do you have your knife?  (Ya as if a little 4" knife is going to stop 3 bears from eating our faces.)  We kept walking and he kept looking over and sure enough the 3 pairs of eyes were following us down the other side of the river.  Well, guess what? The trail crosses a bridge over to the other side of the river next to the ranch house.  Which will put us on the same side as the 3 pairs of eyes.  I said to Paul, you think those are raccoons?  Yes Tiff, really tall raccoons was Paul's answer.  The story goes on, we cross and get back to the camp.  Paul and have put the mega mid close to some trees on the rock bar.  About 2:00am.  There is the loudest noise on the rocks.  Paul and I both shoot bolt upright in our sleeping bags.  As this loud noise is getting closer to our tent.  Paul peeks under to look out, and it's a MULE!  clopping across the rock bar and then up to visit everyone else in the upper camp.  Pretty much scared all of us that night.   
Here we are on the rock bar playing a game of knock over Haley's water bottle.   Wiley brought his little guitar and he, Haley, and Shannon took turns serenading us.  Ahhh

Haley
 
Paul
  Wiley, sorry it's out of focus! Johnny also out of focus Shan more focus problems.

MP still out of focus
Me and my sweetheart Camp 4: Trail Camp Haley got stung or bit by a really mean bee,  and she had a huge hot swelling ring around her thigh from it.  So we made her take some benadryl which knocked her out for a nice nap in her boat.    
One of my favorite parts of a river trip is the rhythm you get into.  Everything that we needed we had in our boats, so we would get up have breakfast pack up go down the river to our next camp.  Throw up a dry line, unpack your stuff.  Set up your sleeping area and chill until it was time to cook some dinner.  After dinner we had a fire and then Wiley would pull out his guitar and the songbirds would sing.  When you were tired, you went to bed, and when you woke up you would start the cycle over.   If you'll notice the mountains in the back of this picture of Shannon and Paul, as you go down the river the dryer the canyon gets.  We saw some wildlife along the way.  6 golden eagles and 1 bald eagle.   The bald eagle was sitting up in a tree just above us eating a fish.  It was sooo cool! This photo is courtesy of Shannon Finch Karmabe photography.  I love it. Wiley on his second round of the rapid.
Camp 5: Can't remember the name, but it was above Cliffside Rapid.  Maybe it was called Upper Cliffside?

 Haley and MP took her IK for another round through Cliffside.





 MP wanted to hit the big hole, but Haley was screaming no! 
  The safety team just in case;)

Last morning group photo.  What a week we had together.  I will forever remember this trip and the great time we had, and the memories that were made.  I hope next year I will be a little less amateur with my paddling skills.  Thanks to everyone who watched out for me through the rapids, helped me flip my boat over and for giving me some encouragement when I was nervous for the big rapids.  Middle Fork of the Salmon, you rock!

 The long drive home;) Just 2 more things a HUGE GIANT THANK YOU to Jason Tea for lending me his boat, and one more HUGE GIANT THANK YOU to Jenny Davidson for lending me her drysuit.  Jenny, that thing saved me, cuz I swam...a few times:)