Main Salmon 2024

We put in at Corn Creek in east-central Idaho, at the last boat ramp before the wilderness, and took out at Carey Landing, a few miles past the downstream boundary and near the west-central border. I was invited by my nephew David, who owns two boat trailers and several rafts and rubber kayaks. The others included his three children and another couple, a colleague of David’s, Steve (with even more experience than David), Brandon and Heather and their two young boys, two of my nephew’s sisters, Anne and Karen and Karen’s friend Clare, and finally my sister Alice, David’s mother, who bravely rode my raft most of the way except for the last Class IV rapid. (Above: Anne in the kayak, then Karen and Clare, me facing downriver away from the camera.) It rained on our first night on the river and most of the next day; everything got wet, including many of the sleeping bags. We stopped early the next day to dry out; then it turned hot and dry until the last night when it rained again. The river flows through a deep steep-walled canyon with a ridgeline lined in jagged broken granite. (Left, an interesting rock formation.) We saw a lot of wildlife: ospreys and eagles, a Sooty grouse (below) and many chukar, usually when I was too busy for picture-taking. The chukar make several interesting sounds and they behave somewhat like the quail I’ve seen. We saw many mountain sheep, both on the mountain sides and in the woods near the river; a small group is shown to the left. For much of the way the river flows through a deep canyon with steep rock walls, a few trees clinging to the sparse patches of soil. A large section in the middle was burned off in a recent fire, but farther downstream there are wider canyons, with ranches and some scattered residences, all “grandfathered in” because they were built before the area was declared a wilderness area. One of the sites is a homestead built by a colorful hermit, Buckskin Bill – in addition to its historic interest it offers a chance to replenish fresh water supplies and purchase minor treats like ice cream bars (I bought two.) Bill was a colorful character, who made his own tools, rifles, and ammunition. He raised a garden, focusing mostly on root vegetables which would keep through the winters, and hunted for his meat, using the rifles he had constructed. Bill’s tool-room is shown at the bottom of the previous page; his sleeping room is to the left. Another interesting pioneer was Polly Bemis. Born in China, she was sold into slavery by her impoverished family, smuggled into the U.S. and sold to a bartender in Idaho, where she cooked and kept house for lodgers. A man named Bemis won her from her owner in a poker game and set her free; when he was shot in the face she dug the bullet fragments out of his face with a knitting needle and nursed him back to health; they were later married. After he died she lived alone for several years, running a rooming house. For the most part the easier, (class II) rapids are formed by a steep flow over smaller rocks, which sets up 2-3 foot waves; the skill involves pulling sideways across the current to dodge rocks that are shallow enough to ground the boat entirely. When water flows over and around larger rocks, it will cause a swift flowing hole followed by churning turbulence and a standing wave behind the rock; if the rock is large enough the standing wave may cause a raft to rise vertically and flip either sideways or even end-over-end. A class II rapid is shown below; you can see one of the standing waves near the rocks on the right. The speeding of water over the rock will also draw water from the sides, setting up a side-current that tends to draw rafts toward it. Class III, IV, and higher rapids have larger rocks, often located in series such that dodging one may set you up to be sucked into the next one. One Class III has a notorious, very sharp-edged boulder that is capable of slicing a long cut in a raft. The most dangerous thing on the river is not the rocks, but fallen trees; one is shown below. The branches can trap a raft or kayak, and the pressure of the current may push the paddler under water. It can be impossible to get free, and people often drown when they tangle with one. We passed this one on the opposite side of the river; it took some vigorous rowing because the tree extended over halfway across the river, and we needed to land on this side just below it. I am still learning to row through rapids; this trip gave me lots of practices. I handled the Class II (moderately difficult) and did some of the more difficult Class III rapids perfectly, but on most of them I was unable to fight the pull of the side currents well enough and ended up going over large boulders and through the deep churning holes behind them – but I managed to keep the boat upright through 75 miles. The final rapid, Vinegar Creek, has two huge boulders, each followed by a deep hole, then a massive standing wave that often upends and flips rafts. I skirted the first and got sucked over the top of the second boulder and into the middle of the second hole, but kept the raft upright, earning my a round of applause. Overall, my run was far from perfect, but it still felt like a great accomplishment to row 75 miles through that many rapids without incident, even if I did get my sister splashed in the face with several huge waves. Rowing was fun; it was also fun to watch Karen, Anne, and the five kids playing in the easier rapids with the rubber kayaks. River rafting is actually not that dangerous – Steve has researched it, and most of the deaths and serious injuries come from either failing to wear a life-jacket or a heart attack caused by the shock of falling into cold water on a hot day. The fallen trees can be deadly, but they are usually easy to spot and avoid. Everyone in my group wore a life jacket whenever on the river, and no-one has heart disease. It's not a good idea to take it lightly, but with good sense and following the safety rules, it's safe and very rewarding.