|
 |
 |
Rich
Carson, Adrian Healy,
Neil Landymore, Will Forester, Ian Macro, Richard Gill,
Dominic Gribbin, Alistair Hart Idaho, the potato state of America, is truly Spud country, with some of the best creek paddling in the US. As we'd swapped our Spuds for the new Diablo it's fortunate that Idaho also contains some of the best big water in the US too!
"Like the Alps only bigger" I'd been told as Frazer tempted me into signing up for the trip. "Hot during the day and cooler at night" was the promise. So why were nine of us sheltering in a wooden shed watching the rain poor down and the sky ridden with lightning? In fact why had it not stopped raining in the three days since we landed at Salt Lake City? It turned out that we'd arrived at the tail end of three weeks of unseasonable cloudburst. This had the definite advantage of pushing river flows way up, especially as the following hot weather decimated the snowpack. For those concerned with water management issues let me assure you we did not allow all this water flowing downhill go to waste.
We'd driven north from Salt Lake City, heading towards the mountains. The southern part of the state is largely desert-like Prairie covered in nice signs pointing out sites of historical interest, such as "John Montgomery -pioneer settler lived here - 1890"! Who? The Prairie's like one of those road movies - flat straight road for as far as the eye can see. Only every so often its split by huge canyons - the secret of some of Idaho's finest paddling.
We warmed up on the Murtagh Canyon of the Snake River, a long sinuous river which forms much of the border between Idaho and Washington. According to the Guidebook there were just two rapids of note, one of which could be seen from the road bridge.
It didn't look too bad from the bridge, but these things never do from a thousand feet up ! (can you spot the person ?) This was good, fun, paddling. Big wave trains with nothing nasty lurking in them and stunning canyon scenery to while away the flatter bits before the next horizon line pulls your attention back to the river. True to form Pair of Dice was bigger than it had looked from the road. A fairly straight forward run on the left, a massive keeper hole on the right. As the Guidebook says "PLEASE don't go right". A beautiful run finished off with the Idaho Connection Wave - surfing heaven!
It's possible to do multi-day trips on the Snake, as on most of Idaho's big watersheds, although there would be a large number of flat sections if you chose this option (not to mention the odd hundred foot waterfall if you picked the wrong bit!).
Paddling in Idaho can easily be divided between three or four discrete watersheds, providing plenty of choice for all standards of kayaker. You either `cherry-pick' the best from each watershed, looping around the state or base yourself in one area and do as much as possible in the time available. We chose the first option being led on by promises of even better surfing in each of the areas! The Payette basin was next, with Banks Cafe forming an important role in our lives - the best hash browns in the world! As they say, this is the place where rivers and the rafters meet - the confluence of the North and South Fork of the Payette. In the mountains the rain finally stopped, the sun came out and Idaho showed its alpine character. Steep, fast creeks good food and plenty of great campsites.
Paddled upper section of South Fork Payette river first. Pleasant paddle, not too difficult although the portage around Big Falls is a must. Lower section of South Fork Payette river followed where we met the staff of 'Canoe + Kayak' magazine testing boats, which led to much posing on the surf wave for the benefit of their photographer.
North Fork of the Payette was paddled from Houndstooth to confluence. An incredible river! Very powerful, very fast and with large sections of continuous grade 4.
Each river basin has its own character, the further north you go the more isolated and mountainous it becomes. The Payette was followed by mellow days on the Lochsa and adrenaline surges on the Golden Canyon of the Clearwater. This appeared to be a 'classic British ditch run', greeted with glee by Rich C and Adrian but apathy by others. Matt, Dom and Ian decided to sit it out, but got in later after seeing the fun in store!
In between we managed a quick trip down Hells Canyon - famous as the deepest canyon in North America with a massive 100 mile plus shuttle. A lot of paddlers do the shuttle by hiring jet boats, which run the river commercially, to carry them and their boats up river - as the river was now too high (40,000 cfs) for them to get up the rapids it fell to Richard to drive the long way round! The guidebook says it takes a couple of days to paddle Hells Canyon, local boaters reckoned on three days, it took six hours (including two for lunch). At lower levels it would be a long, flat, but very pretty, slog!
In the end we spent two weeks in Idaho on a very relaxed trip. We paddled only a small proportion of what was available and had a great time. Most of the available water is Grade 3 or 4, with the odd section of 5 if you're interested in that sort of thing. There are plenty of multi-day trips - many of which you need to get permits for. None of the rivers we did required permits. The two guidebooks to the area are excellent.
Although we were lucky in hitting the peak of the melt many of the rivers remain `up' into August and some (such as the upper part of the North Fork of the Payette) come into their own at lower levels.
Our thanks to Prijon who kindly supplied us with the Diablo's at reduced prices - they performed brilliantly. Prijon got a good promotional video out of the exercise so all sides are happy - here's to the next trip!
We flew from Heathrow to Salt Lake City, via Chicago, with American Airlines. As usual they were very good about carrying our boats free of charge. In Salt Lake City we hired one vehicle, and met up with Richie Carson who'd driven up from Memphis. Many of the rivers are short so you could possibly get by with one vehicle and a bike. It's also possible to fly to Boise (in Idaho) avoiding a long drive. Carrying boats on these internal flights is more difficult but possible if you pay. We met some Brits who'd flown in to Seattle, an option but the drive to Idaho is longer than from Salt Lake City. Best months: May/June/July - depending on the snow and what you want to do.
Other rivers paddled included the lower section of the Secesh (from Ponderosa to the confluence with the Salmon), good start and end but flat middle. Upper Secesh, worth considering at lower levels. Also Upper Salmon river (Amphitheatre Hole to Riggins), low volume, fast flowing, exciting and cold !
Christmas 1995 - most of the gang who went to Idaho, plus a couple of invited extras, are heading off to Chile for Christmas/New Year. Main goal of the trip will be to paddle the Rio Bio Bio with other rivers thrown in for good measure. For some this will be a repeat visit to the area, for others a first. Prijon are again supporting this trip, based on the good relations developed with them through the Idaho connection - cheers guys. In return they'll get another promo video - this time for the Hurricane. AJH
Frazer Pearce, F.R.Pearce@durham.ac.uk
3-Dec-95