Once again we had the pleasure of rafting the Middle Fork of the Salmon, but this was one of the best trips ever. Even though the initial rigging and pre-camp was totally in the rain, plus the temps for day one were in the 60’s, it was a superb trip. The 12 folks on the trip got along super, the food was great, the hot springs wonderful (we were the only one’s at Sunflower), we saw enough wildlife to write about, and the flows were just right at 2.6 to 2.9′.
Our trip leader was the only one who knew each one in the group before launch, but it didn’t take long for everyone to blend in. One technique Ed Zink (an experience hunting guide) used to get folks to talk about themselves was his “Question of the Day”, where he asks, in round-robin, something like “What was your most interesting: River Trip/Vaca
tion/Childhood Memory”. Within a couple days we knew quite a bit about everyone and had new ideas for travel, books to read and things to talk about.
Once the rains stopped, Idaho was slated for unusually high temps which we appreciated. As the photo shows we had quite a variety of rafts, including 2 inflatable kayaks and a pack raft. Best news was the old Argonaut’s most current patch job held the best ever. No flips and only a couple rafts got “high centered” on rocks.
Two of our favorite hot springs were completely vacant when we visited them. And the trough shower at Sunflower is always a favorite even though you can’t use soap or shampoo.
One of those totally unexpected encounters happened as we arrived at Indian Creek. Standing atop his raft as I pulled in, was my old high-school buddy Don Ahlert, who I cycled across the latter half of the Southern Tier of the US with in 2011. Great to catch up with him before we each headed down river to meet up with our individual trips. He launched one day ahead of us and was able to hook up a double permit for the Middle Fork and Main Salmon combined.
Elk Bar is a totally sand beach where we tried to camp with Don Pole back in aught 11. We made good use of the bar and even managed an extensive biology lesson watching a dozen randy frogs mating in the fish trap at the north end of the beach.
If Ed asks us again “What was the best river trip you been on”, we’ll all have to say Middle Fork 2013 because when John Lawson answered about the most interesting place he’s ever visited in his travels, following answers such as, the Sistine Chapel, the Panama Canal and Ankor Wat, with “a Stuckey’s along the Kansas Interstate”, to which Ed laughed and cried for a very long, long time. No one could speak again for hours without using the word “Stuckey’s” in their comment.
