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"The only way you could improve this trip would be to stay on the river another week."
- P. Stouffer, Aspen, CO
The
Middle Fork of the Salmon is America’s premier alpine whitewater
river. It features 6 days and 75 to 100 miles of pristine
Idaho wilderness, breath taking scenery, incredibly clear river water,
exciting rapids, natural hot springs, excellent trout fishing, and
Native American pictographs. What more could one want in a river
trip!?
The Middle Fork begins as a small, quick stream close to 6000 feet above sea level, and increases more than five-fold in volume over its 100 mile course. The upper river is in a tight canyon covered with Douglas fir and lodgepole Pine. Then the Middle Fork of the Salmon River canyon opens up and features ponderosa pine, sagebrush, and mountain mahogany, flora more typical of the high desert.
...100 miles of pristine wilderness, spectacular scenery, incredibly clear water, exciting rapids, natural hot springs, excellent trout fishing, and Native American pictographs...The last two days we enter Impassable Canyon, with almost vertical rock walls on both sides. Here we find the Middle Fork at its full strength. The rapids are bigger, more intense, and closer together. Red Side, Webber, Cliffside, Rubber, Hancock, Devil’s Tooth and House Rock all occur in the last day and a half. We float onto the Main Salmon for the last three miles of our trip, where we encounter the biggest rapid of the trip. In 2003 a flash flood caused a landslide at Cramer Creek just above our take-out at Cache Bar, creating a wonderful new rapid and the perfect end to our trip.
We run five-day trips in early June, when the river is at its highest, and six-day trips the rest of the season. At some point, usually from late July to mid-August, the upper 25 miles of river get too low to run, and we begin our trips by flying in to Indian Creek. Unlike most outfitters, we pay for your flight in.
