Middle Fk Salmon permits and summer BBI

**tgapp** · 06-01-2022, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by total_immortal

We canceled our 6/15 launch if anyone wants to try and snag it.

tBatt, you guys still going? The forecast looks to be right at 6' for the 5th, big rocking water!

We also canceled. 6-6.5ft seems pretty fucking spicy. Bummed to bail, but that's how it goes.

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**Danno** · 06-01-2022, 06:53 PM

We did 4.5' many years ago, and it wasn't insane but it was still big water, 6.5 would be pretty hudge.

**Hopeless Sinner** · 06-01-2022, 06:57 PM

Somebody died near Boundary Creek last week.

BOISE—A Washington man is dead after a boating accident on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Custer County.

Robert Gray, 63, of Mill Creek, Washington, was floating the river on the afternoon of May 24 “when his raft struck a log jam, throwing him into the water,” according to a news release from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office.

The accident took place around 2:30 p.m. near the Boundary Creek boat launch, northwest of Stanley.

“Robert Gray, tired and cold, could not self-rescue and was carried away by the swift current,” the release said.

According to the release, the river was running high with a water temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The sheriff’s office was notified of the incident around 7 p.m. that evening by the victim’s family.

Around noon Wednesday, Custer County Search and Rescue located a body matching Gray’s description by helicopter, submerged in a log jam downstream from Boundary Creek, the release said. As of last week, Gray’s body was still in the river, as rescuers have determined the river is currently too dangerous for retrieval, the release said.

**Bunion 2020** · 06-01-2022, 07:04 PM

6' gets pretty sporty.

My 1st time down the MF was 1991ish and a self support kayak trip (back when there were pit toilets) at 6+' with our group launching on Marsh Creek. I barely had a roll at that point.

Marsh Creek was a blur with several large snow bridges that had recently collapsed into the creek from avalanches all winter crossing the creek. River wide log blockage was a real threat but all went well. I was pretty stressed about the Impassable canyon when I should have been stressed about the 25 miles from Boundary to Indian Creek. Turns out most of the lower "Big" rapids were washed out and hardly there. Also I never noticed it on that trip but Ski Jump is a real barn burner at high water.

Oh well, my sister and BIL are arriving on 6/15 so we will float something around here.

**skifishbum** · 06-02-2022, 04:43 AM

sumstimes youre the Louisville sluggers
sumstimes youre the ball
sumtimes it all comes togather........
windsheilds n bugs

thanks for runnin the ligistics and the invite
ill be back on that water someday
hopefully with the latest god as a copirate

my plan b is a week outta dutch john a b c on the green
try n score pugmire, red creek or treetops a couple nights, then float down into browns park
camp at boblandia or swallow and down to crook
maybe a poopfish day on the gorge
hearin a little buzz about

bugs
#asgoodasdryflygits

**teleee** · 06-02-2022, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by tgapp

We also canceled. 6-6.5ft seems pretty fucking spicy. Bummed to bail, but that's how it goes.

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Thats a bummer, I have ran it at 6.5 with a couple guide buddies, it was BIG, probably a wise choice to bail.

**cravenmorhead** · 06-02-2022, 11:16 AM

I was also one of the bailers. Not only a lot of water but a lot of wood moving around - Rangers reported some groups encountering riverwide trees. If we were a group that was familiar with the run and each other it would have been more on the bubble, but with a mixed group and no experience on the MF over 3' or so it was just too many red flags.

**skinipenem** · 06-02-2022, 01:53 PM

Sorry to hear the trip washed out. That's a bummer.

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**cravenmorhead** · 06-02-2022, 02:59 PM

Yeah, too bad, but nature doesn't give a shit about our plans. Things were setting up pretty well until things turned cold and wet - Salmon drainage is looking at over 200% annual average snowpack for May 30 and a steady warm-up looks to point peak flows right at our scheduled launch date. And lots of reports of post-wildfire wood moving around.

**Yonder_River** · 06-02-2022, 03:18 PM

Bummer for all of you, sorry to hear about the high water. I've been skunked a lot but it's usually just day trips as the water gets too high around here multiple times a year and you gotta walk away with your tail between your legs. It's a whole other thing when you've been anticipating it for a while. You all made the right call, it's the worst when a trip goes sideways and you're out in the middle of nowhere.

**Conundrum** · 06-02-2022, 03:32 PM

I have some pics from flyovers and it seems that is not if you would have to portage at some point, but how many times. Lots a lumber in the river right now.

**Norseman** · 06-02-2022, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by Conundrum

I have some pics from flyovers and it seems that is not if you would have to portage at some point, but how many times. Lots a lumber in the river right now.

Mind sharing them here?

**Conundrum** · 06-02-2022, 09:27 PM

Kind of...I got them second hand, not from the photographer. But, I think they'll start popping up here as one already did.

https://www.mountainbuzz.com/threads...6/#post-845882

**MakersTeleMark** · 06-03-2022, 03:24 AM

Buddy just dropped his middle fork for a main. And he's competent. 4 ditch trips. I'd go for it but not with custies.

**cravenmorhead** · 06-03-2022, 07:38 AM

Yeah. We're making moves for cataract instead.

**detrusor** · 06-03-2022, 08:57 AM

We’re putting in for a cataract trip starting at potash June 26

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**schindlerpiste** · 06-03-2022, 10:11 AM

A neighbor of mine has already floated (with kayak) the MF twice this year and is going again next week. He is a very experienced kayaker. He told me that while the flow is not that high (~5.5ft.), when he was up there two weeks ago it was snowing and there is a crazy amount of timber in the water. He saw amore than a couple of rafts overturn. One raft overturned, submerged, traveled under and lifted a tree and traveled 300-400 yards down river underwater.

**Yonder_River** · 06-03-2022, 11:13 AM

I'm envious of your neighbor. 7 ft and below is relatively manageable in a kayak, even with wood. Making the trip without raft support is the hard part, unless you self support which adds another layer.

**cravenmorhead** · 06-21-2022, 08:24 AM

Our Cataract trip was a proper adventure. Ran down from Westwater for about 180 river miles. Motored the flatwater to spend more time in the pretty parts. Two flips, one in Skull on Westy and another in Big Drop 2.

**detrusor** · 06-21-2022, 09:13 AM

We put in at potash for cat on Sunday.

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**cravenmorhead** · 06-21-2022, 10:34 AM

Note that the North Wash ramp is completely fucked. Like, even more fucked than it was 3 weeks ago.

**detrusor** · 06-21-2022, 12:12 PM

Plan is a 10,000 pound winch and huge pvc pipes to get up the hill Egyptian style

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**cravenmorhead** · 06-21-2022, 12:53 PM

How huge are your pipes? Current photos in this thread show what's left of the "ramp." https://www.mountainbuzz.com/threads....108307/page-4

I saw a snout rig get pulled out on huge tubes that could handle the uneven ground on the "walk up" ramp, but we didn't even bother trying with the 3" PVC we brought. The snout needed to be pulled from the lower lot, so it also took a shitload of cable.