Linda's Lower Salmon Birthday Trip

Just the Facts Mam!

Let's start this post with a few stats that might only interest a few of you.

Day 1 - Hammer Creek put-in to a camp just above Killer Goat Beach somewhere Wickiup. Water level 9600 and dropping. (I goofed up the GPS so all my readings were based on the drive down. There is no way we went 67 miles per hour on this stretch!) Weather, clear with winds up to 70 mph. (I am not kidding, more to come on this.)

Day 2 - Wickiup to the hidden beach, river right, below Cottonwood Creek. Maximum speed -12.3 mph, average speed - 4.5 mph, time on the water - 3:49, total miles -17.2 and we stayed at an elevation of 1081 feet above sea level. (GPS was working and doing well.)

Day 3 - Hidden beach to small beach between Sluice Box and Checkerboard. Maximum speed -13.7 mph, average speed - 4.1 mph, time on the water - 3:13, total miles -13.3 and we stayed at an elevation of 977 feet above sea level.

Day 4 - Small beach between Sluice Box and Checkerboard to about river mile 61 (one mile above Geneva Bar.) . Maximum speed -18.2 mph, average speed - 4.4 mph, time on the water - 2:06, total miles - 9.3 and we stayed at an elevation of 917 feet above sea level.

Day 5 - River mile 61 to Heller Bar. We left the beach at exactly 6:10 am (we were shooting for 6 am, not bad.) and arrived a 9:22 am. Maximum speed -11.6 mph, average speed - 5.1 mph, time on the water - 2:22, total miles - 12.1 and we stayed at an elevation of 861 feet above sea level. Discharge, cubic feet per second the most recent instantaneous value: 8,100 07-26-2010 14:45 PDT.

Now for some photos and the trip report!

Hammered down to Wickiup.

Every year for the past twelve years Linda and I have been on a river somewhere celebrating Linda’s Birthday. It started on the Grand Canyon where Garth Brooks serenaded Linda while a host of Wassmuth’s gathered round. This year we solo-ed the Lower Salmon River so that we could keep the tradition going. We have been traveling and entertaining so much the past month that we needed to get away by ourselves and do a little river time.

We left Coeur d’Alene early on Thursday morning and drove down to Whitebird where we dropped off the keys to the truck for the shuttle. Within the hour we were backing the boat in at Hammer Creek launch with an army of other boaters. We know from past experiences that if you are solo, it really does not matter how many groups are on the water, you can always find a good private beach each night.

Our goal was to have no real goals! We were floating and that was all that mattered. So off we went down the Salmon, clear blue skies and cold green water. The past weeks started melting away as I started getting my river senses back. About six miles into the trip we were cruising on down river breezes when there was a noticeable change, our breezes picked up and changed directions, all in about a mile. The wind blew and I rowed.

We made it down to Pine Bar and it started blowing harder. You are probably not familiar with the stretch of water about two and a half miles below Pine Bar, but there is a rapid that sweeps along a rock face located on river left. Just below it is a large eddy that creates a sand beach. We entered this rapid and the wind was howling. It was blowing so hard that we could not get down the river. You are not going to believe this but it actually stopped our boat and blew us up rapid into the big eddy on river right. It was the strangest thing; our boat stopped and then surfed up river and into the slow moving water. I eased up on the oars and we drifted back up and I reentered the rapid after we let the wind die down a bit. When a gust eased up I gave it hell and got past the rapid and the eddy below.

The two groups that were below us had pulled off the river and were setting up camp in the wind and the blowing sand. Our thoughts were to keep going and hope that it died down; we didn’t want to sit on a beach and get our skin sandblasted off.

We made it down to just above Killer Goat Beach and made our first camp. The wind died and we had a wonderful meal of Linda’s Taco Salad. The sun set and we had a feeling that the rest of the trip would be great!

Birthday Runs and Fun!

Friday morning brought a beautiful day. We ate breakfast and packed the boat. The stretch of water on this day was filled with the two biggest rapids and Linda is always glad when we are back in camp that day. As we drifted down river we watched to see how many groups we passed. Most groups had gotten an earlier start that we did, so we could see their tracks on the beaches but nothing to tell us anything about the groups. We spotted something on the beach just below Killer Goat and I pulled into the eddy to check it out. There on the sand was a net bag with about five water bottles in it. RIVER BOOTY! We gathered it up and bounced on down knowing that we would probably pass the owner sometime around lunch, as the groups that left early would probably stop earlier that us for their break.

We cruised down to White House Bar and met a group eating lunch. Linda asked them if they had left anything on the beach that morning and they said no. We moved on entering Cougar Canyon. The rapids were real good at this level, readable and bouncy, a good combination. We charged through Lorna’s Lulu, past the Bunghole rapids and Harms Hole. Down river right I noticed to young men climbing on the rocks and entering the water. I pointed it out to Linda and she said that they didn’t have any life jackets on! As we came closer we confirmed that they were swimming without jackets so we pulled over and offered them a lift. They accepted without hesitation and grabbed on to the front of the boat.

Down river there were two boats about four blocks apart. As we approached we got the whole story from our hitchhikers. They were in the big gear boat when they entered Harms Hole Rapid right down the middle of the hole. It flipped their boat is a second and tossed the boys toward the right bank. They swam right and the boat bobbed left. As we approached the group the two guys hanging on to our boat got a stern teasing about not wearing their life jackets. We dropped them off, told them to get their jackets on and continued on down into Bodacious Bounce rapid.

I enjoy running the river on my own. My concentration is high and I believe I have better runs because I know that we are alone and that I can’t make mistakes. Half and Half rapid was big, but there were more lines through it. We sped on down to Snow Hole and arrived as a group from OARS was doing their scout. At this level experience told me that I needed to be just a tad bit right of center. We approached and glided in to the turbulence. I was right in my judgment and our run was near perfect. I love it when it all comes together and you ace a rapid. Linda loves it too and after Snow Hole I always get a big kiss for my work.

We started looking for a lunch beach and as we moved on down below Snow Hole we spotted a large group on river right having their lunch. I eased on into the eddy and Linda said “Did you leave anything on the beach this morning when you broke camp?” A guy jumped up and said, “Water bottles?” and we all started laughing. They were so grateful and offered to give us something for our kindness, but we just said our usual river karma reply and delivered their goods.

We ate lunch and watched the parade of boats. The river was crowded so we pushed on. At China Rapid I entered at the usual spot, but while I pulled to the middle I missed a stroke on my oar and we ended up dropping our left tube into the rock hole that everyone avoids by going left against the bank. Linda screamed and I looked like a dork, but I came out of it ok, my pride a bit bruised, but I could deal with that by stroking down river away from observers.

Dorkness hit me again about two miles down river when I spotted an eddy line and proceeded to smack Linda on the head with my rod tip as I made a cast to catch a big bass. No excuses for the mishap, but I was a bit excited because I had just pulled in a huge cutthroat trout which I hooked in fast water on one of my rubber worm jigs. So in my excitement I whacked Linda and she jumped which jolted her sun glasses off her head into the river never to be seen again. I felt real bad, but Linda took the loss well. I'll get her a new pair of glasses now that we are back.

We found a camp on river left just below Cottonwood Rapid and set up for the night. Linda got the food out and we put it in the Dutch oven to cook. We set up our little table and played cribbage while our enchiladas heated up. Dinner was served and we put sour cream and guacamole on top with a few chips on the side. I took a bit and something was wrong. I looked at Linda and she had a quizzical look on her face. Our food didn’t look or taste quite Mexican; in fact it tasted a lot like lasagna! In fact it was lasagna. We had grabbed the wrong frozen food package when we packed. It was real good, and really didn’t taste bad with guacamole on it. We wolfed it down and laughed about our enchilasana meal.

Into the Black Canyon

We moved on down the river and entered the Black Canyon where we found a small beach between Sluice Box and Checkerboard rapids. It was a great beach, very small and private, the perfict one boat beach. We set up the para-wing to block the hot sun and spent the afternoon swimming and enjoying the view.

For our meal we had chili haystacks which were easy to put together and quite good. The sun went down and we set up our cots for the night; brushed our teeth and read till dark. As we laid on our beds reading, a cloud of Mayflies formed above Linda's cot. Mayflies are harmless bugs that fish love, but as their hatch went on the numbers of bugs dancing over her bed grew to a dense fog. They didn't touch us, just floated about five inches above us and danced up and down in the air. It was like a huge disco party with out the music or the mirrored ball.

It was a bit claustrophobic to have the party so close to our heads, so I got up and used a towel to whip them in hopes of having them disperse. They would have nothing to do with my flailing and just kept on parting. We got up and moved the cots about 80 feet to the other end of the beach hoping that the bugs would stay put and they would party on where they hatched, but with in seconds they were back hovering over our cots. It was so strange! You could get up and walk two feet in either direction and be out of the mass, but move the bed and the whole thing moved. We decided that they must have been attracted by the white sheets that we sleep in, there was no other explanation. I was going to test this by covering up with one of our blankets, but it was still so hot out that we would not have been comfortable with the extra covering. So we just tried to ignore the party; bugs dancing and the occasional bat swooping through for a party snack.

The Beach on the Snake

The next day we moved on down out of the Lower Salmon canyon and on to the Snake River. The jet boat traffic increased quite a bit when we were floating the two rivers that combined to form the Snake. Our water speed remained very good and we made very quick time down to our last camp. We found another great beach just below Cotton Creek and on the left bank of the river. This gave us real good afternoon shade and we took advantage of this until the sun went down. Once again we swam and relaxed, content in the knowledge that this was our last night on the river.

Our plan for the final day was to get up early and pack the boat well before the sun came up. To do this we needed to be awake around 5 am. I had noticed that the GPS had an alarm function so I checked that out. On this GPS you could set an alarm and even though you turned off the unit for the night, it would wake up, sound the alarm and then start recording data about our final leg of the trip. That turned out to be a real cool function. We were up by 5 am packed and on the river at 10 after 6 am. The row out was uneventful, we saw a lot of deer and didn't see anyone else on the river.

We arrived at Heller Bar at about 9 am and the truck arrived about 9:10 am which worked out real nice. We packed up and drove home with out incident. The birthday trip is always one of our best. Solo is the way to go if you can. I can't believe that more of our friends don't join us on these trips, but then again, we would not be solo, would we.