Lucky to land a spot on a Middle Fork of the Salmon river trip once again this summer.  Trip was a last minute cancellation that good friend managed to hook for June 17th.  Only 7 folks on the trip as water levels were high (above 5’ while recruiting) and it was such short notice.  Only four rafts and 2 kayaks.

One of the colder river trips I’ve been on, as the first couple of days had frost on our tents, but by the third day it warmed up and we could finish the trip in shorts for the last 3 days. At 4.68’ we only took 3 1/2 hours on the river each day to do 15 miles of white water and reach another wilderness camp site.

Met some interesting people along the way, one of which flew into a local river resort and hiked to one of the many hot springs we enjoyed.  They were Ozzy snowbirds who kept a Cessena 182 in Tuscon. We had much in common as he was a Master Captain for a 160’ motor sailer who visited many of the same places we did, just at a different level.  For example they would use the on-board helicopter to do their “check-ins”, a method that frankly never occurred to us when we arrived at a new port.

We didn’t see as much wildlife as in past trips, but the swallow-tail butterflies were out in the hundreds.  I’d never seen them congregate on a portion of wet sand beach before.  Our best guess was they were sucking the moisture out of the sand.