Idaho Trip Report (July 16th-25th, 1999)
 
 
July 16th. Off to Idaho, just in time to catch the rivers on their way down.
The snow was melting very late everywhere this year, which meant: great paddling and great weather. In the border line up we (that is Jim, John, Peter and I) inched our way past other Kayakers. Larry, Chuck and friends. They were on their way to Idaho too.  But they went to the Payette area first, while we would start with the Lochsa. To break up the drive, we stopped at the Wenatchee and began the next day with an ‘alpine start’ (on the water at 8 a.m., must have reminded Jim of his mountaineering years). Nobody else showed up at rodeo hole until 11. Finally in Idaho, we had some problems meeting each other again. Who ever made my map had put a bridge before a turn off, in real life it was behind. Pete and I waited at the bridge, Jim and John at the turn off. After an hour waiting, we met in the middle. 
Our first run on the Lochsa started from Fish Creek. The guidebooks told us what to expect: 20 named rapids, most class III-IV and IV. Not bad as a ‘warm up’! The road running along the river made me feel a bit more comfortable. Surprisingly we hadn’t seen any other kayakers. 

But fisherman, and an especially talkative one told us that he had been fishing on the river for 41 years, had caught 103 trout in one day, and that the river had 32 spots deeper than 60 foot.More relevant was the information that just during the previous week 3 rafts got ‘gutted’ in the rapids below. The water would be too low. Maybe for rafting, but not for us! A ranger drove up and wrote 1.4 for the river level on a board. Later a kayaker shows up, according to him the level is 1 and a quarter (on the USGS web page the level had been 3.7). You can’t confuse us! Off we paddled. Lots of horizon lines. 

 
Our necks were stretched to full extension. Often we didn’t see enough, so our legs got a workout too. That made the 9 mile stretch a slow affair. Pete ran one of the drops nice and easy. John followed, flipped in a folding wave, rolled up with a loud holler. Although I tried not to, I flipped exactly at the same spot. Jim must have though he had picked a better line, and relaxed too soon, finishing the rapid with a spectacular stern squirt, his boat almost completely out of the water. More rapids, more scouting. The lines we picked seemed to work. We felt pretty confident. The next drop had a sneak on the right and the ‘proper’ line down the middle, or so we thought. Pete went for the ‘proper line’, got stuck in a hole, but it showed mercy and let him go after a second. Jim had no such luck and flipped. Bad timing, every time he rolled up, he landed right in the next hole, and finished the drop without his boat. He complained: ‘First Peter leads me into that toilet bowl and then someone flushed it!’ 
 

While we assembled our party again, a group of local boaters passed by. They took the sneak. Now we have ‘probes’. And I’m happy that the neck stretching scouting has an end. It’s also easier to find the good playspots. More rapids. One pretty steep, the river dropped about 3 meters over two steps. The line: right side (as for some reason in the most drops), bounce from the right side of the left big hole onto the left side of the right one. The local kayakers explained the water levels to us: kayakers, rangers and the USGS use three different gauges. Although they said the river was on the low side; it had plenty of excitement, playspots and nice drops for us. Second day on the Lochsa. We put in above the Eagle Mountain Bridge. Very similar to the lower run. A bit longer (13 miles), more rapids (the guidebook said 28), and less calm sections. Here the river is narrower and steeper, which would make a difference at higher water levels. We didn’t run Onnos Hole (at least what we thought was it) and Ten Pin Alley. The first looked too bony, the second even bonier.

 
   At night we left the valley of Lochsa and the MF Clearwater. The road scaled the steep hills like a serpent. After crossing a plateau high above the river, we drove down into the valley of the NF of the Clearwater. A rainstorm greeted us, followed by a bright rainbow and a very pink evening sky. The Clearwater gave us some rest after the excitement on the Lochsa (we took out above Irish Railroad). Flat sections with plenty of rapids to keep us from relaxing too much while we drifted on the green water past tall fir trees and sand beaches.
    On our way to southern Idaho we drove along the Salmon, moving lazy between dry sage brush hills. We met Larry again (not a big surprise, since there is only one road connecting Lochsa and Payette area) and exchanged beta. 
 Nearing our next paddled area, we took a good look at the NF of the Payette. There is barely any green to see in the water tumbling down beside the road. Everything is white: holes, crashing waves, and ledges. Long class V rapids, interrupted by stretches of continuous class IV. People who paddle that stuff must be into a completely different sport.

 
After all the driving, we got on the Swirley Canyon run on the SF of the Payette. Very entertaining, although the actual canyon section is short and the UPW (ultimate play wave, created by an old dam) doesn’t live up to its name. This section comes with a feature every river needs: hot springs just meters from the take out. We camp at Pine Flats, another of the campgrounds with a hot spring on the SF.

 
Left:The SF of the Payette disappears into the CANYON...
 
 
 
 

            Below: Big Falls on the SF of the Payette


 
 That is also where our next runs starts. The Canyon. Not much to see from the road high above, leaving a nervous feeling: inaccessible canyon, class IV drops, a mandatory portage at Big Falls. All the ingredients for an epic. Next morning we paddle by the hot springs. We had sat there last night until the moon dropped below the ridge. The canyon walls grow steep around us. Vertical cliffs down to the water. But nothing too hard, until a huge sign warns us: ‘Big falls, portage’. The water plunges down over four ledges, riverwide holes on the bottom of each, a boiling mess. Understandable that the (only?) guy, who has run the falls intentionally waited until there was barely any water in the river. After Big Falls the road dropped closer to a comfortable distance. Soon we got to the first of the class IV drops. We didn’t find the plaque commemorating Walt Blackadders death at this spot. The fatal tree is long gone. At ‘Lone Pine’, the next class IV, the line goes through a hole and breaking waves. Pete and Jim run Little Falls blind, they eddied out on the wrong side. From the other side of the river, I could observe how well they were doing, but then I had to ferry all the way across to the ‘sweet spot’. ‘Surprise’ had two sections, the second harder to scout. What a river! We were still excited at the take out. All the class IV rapids are easy to recognize and scout. But we don’t quite agree with the guidebook, which calls them class III at lower water. There is a lot of white water!

 
Next day the Carbaton run on the NF of the Payette: not quite bath tub temperatures, but really warm. Time for the short sleeves. It starts with a lot of flat water. We practiced rodeo rolls, how to stand on the rim of the cockpit and other useful kayaking skills. John tried to steel Peters paddle, but got in trouble when Pete let go and flipped him over. Rolling up with a paddle in each hand just didn’t work. Finally he made up his mind and let go of one of the paddles. The pace picked up at the second half of the run, where the river squeezes through a narrow gorge. Good surfwaves and a glorious finale: ‘Howard’s plunge’. It looks bigger and harder than it is. It was so fun we had to do it twice.

 
Peter takes the 'Plunge'

It was so fun we had to do it twice

 
  Last day in Idaho. Another ‘alpine start’. The ‘Staircase’ section of the SF Payette. I’m still wondering, which rapid ‘Bronco Billy’ was. The day before we watched kayakers going through ‘Staircase’, one guy getting caught in a hole, others doing rather bizarre maneuvers. We kind of plough along the right side through everything. Later we got to another rapid (‘Slalom’), not mentioned in my guide, although it would have been worth it. I should have noticed how hard Pete paddled to make the ferry, but it is too late when I realized that I wouldn’t make it. I was lucky, below the horizon line was a green tongue between two big holes.
    The week in Idaho had passed. Back to the Westcoast. We stop at the Wenatchee again and run into the VKC crowd. How strange to run a river we know, with a bunch of friends. As if we are back home. But I’m sure, we’ll be back to paddle in Idaho again, run those exciting rapids and sit in the hot springs.

 
Waiting for the shuttle on the Lochsa Pineforest and hot springs on the SF of the Payette

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