Here's something to keep your imagination working during
the cold short days ahead, and/or to waste time at work:

http://cacreeks.com/mfsalmon.htm

It's a writeup of the Middle Fork Salmon, with pictures.

Cool, I'm kayaking the middle fork next June. 120 mile section in 5 days I
think it is. Another boater from our club is arranging it all since she went
last year. You only get on average one class IV rapid per day, but the
scenery makes up for it. It is a kayak trip that is raft supported, so no
gear in boats...a big plus, not much fits into a 6 to 7 ft playboat :-)
"Bill Tuthill" wrote in message ...
Here's something to keep your imagination working during
the cold short days ahead, and/or to waste time at work:

http://cacreeks.com/mfsalmon.htm

It's a writeup of the Middle Fork Salmon, with pictures.

Grip wrote:
Cool, I'm kayaking the middle fork next June. 120 mile section
in 5 days I think it is.

Unless you start on Marsh Creek, it's only 100 miles (actually 99.7
according to the forest service). June may offer high-water.

Another boater from our club is arranging it all since she went
last year. You only get on average one class IV rapid per day, but the
scenery makes up for it.

Depending on your definition of class 4. Even at high water,
all the so-called class 4 rapids except Velvet have a clear route
visible from eye level in a raft. Some kayakers and kayak-oriented
guidebook writers feel that high water suddenly transforms class 3
into class 4 rapids. I'm undecided on this matter.

It is a kayak trip that is raft supported, so no
gear in boats...a big plus, not much fits into a 6 to 7 ft playboat :-)

Lots of good playspots along the way! At least I thought so.
Do plenty of it, or else (in June) you'll reach camp before noon!

You are probably right about the milage. This will be my first trip there,
from the description my friends gave I had 120 stuck in mind for some
reason. Anyway, I am indeed hoping for high water, more makes it pushier but
usually less technical. Looking forward to hot springs, side hikes, etc.
"Bill Tuthill" wrote in message ...
Grip wrote:
Cool, I'm kayaking the middle fork next June. 120 mile section
in 5 days I think it is.

Unless you start on Marsh Creek, it's only 100 miles (actually 99.7
according to the forest service). June may offer high-water.

Another boater from our club is arranging it all since she went
last year. You only get on average one class IV rapid per day, but the
scenery makes up for it.

Depending on your definition of class 4. Even at high water,
all the so-called class 4 rapids except Velvet have a clear route
visible from eye level in a raft. Some kayakers and kayak-oriented
guidebook writers feel that high water suddenly transforms class 3
into class 4 rapids. I'm undecided on this matter.

It is a kayak trip that is raft supported, so no
gear in boats...a big plus, not much fits into a 6 to 7 ft playboat :-)

Lots of good playspots along the way! At least I thought so.
Do plenty of it, or else (in June) you'll reach camp before noon!

Bill Tuthill wrote:
Grip wrote:
Cool, I'm kayaking the middle fork next June. 120 mile section
in 5 days I think it is.

Unless you start on Marsh Creek, it's only 100 miles (actually 99.7
according to the forest service). June may offer high-water.

Another boater from our club is arranging it all since she went
last year. You only get on average one class IV rapid per day, but the
scenery makes up for it.

Depending on your definition of class 4. Even at high water,
all the so-called class 4 rapids except Velvet have a clear route
visible from eye level in a raft. Some kayakers and kayak-oriented
guidebook writers feel that high water suddenly transforms class 3
into class 4 rapids. I'm undecided on this matter.


I've only been there once, at low water (we were able to put in at
Marsh Creek, but our support rafts had to put in downstream). At that
level, there was nothing that I would call a serious Class III. A few
easy Class IIIs maybe, but nothing challenging to a Class III boater.

-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

Oci-One Kanubi wrote:

I've only been there once, at low water (we were able to put in at
Marsh Creek, but our support rafts had to put in downstream). At that
level, there was nothing that I would call a serious Class III. A few
easy Class IIIs maybe, but nothing challenging to a Class III boater.

You thought Dagger Falls was easy class 3!? Or maybe you're referring
only to the rapids below Boundary Creek put-in.

If the latter, I pretty much agree with you. Velvet Falls could be dicy
run on the right or center, but if you know to run left, it's certainly
an easy class 3 move. Rapids in Impassible Canyon get big at high flows,
but I don't know if that makes them class 4.

This past spring, one of my friends wrote a trip report about a voyage
down Marsh Creek that encountered a surprise river-wide tree, hidden
by a blind curve. They were lucky to survive with 50% of their boats
and only one broken leg.

Bill Tuthill wrote:
Oci-One Kanubi wrote:

I've only been there once, at low water (we were able to put in at
Marsh Creek, but our support rafts had to put in downstream). At that
level, there was nothing that I would call a serious Class III. A few
easy Class IIIs maybe, but nothing challenging to a Class III boater.

You thought Dagger Falls was easy class 3!? Or maybe you're referring
only to the rapids below Boundary Creek put-in.


Hi Bill,

Yuh; that's probably what I should have remembered: Boundary Creek.
Whichever put-in is almost exactly 100 miles (including a mile or two
on the Main Salmon) upstream from the Forest Service takeout, as I
recall. A longish first day to get to where the rafts could put in,
then four and a half leisurely days to the take-out.

I tried to Google up a map to jog my memory, but I just don't have time
to wade thru all the sales bumph on most of the sites Google finds.

But my overall opinion of the trip is that it is not a place I would
ever go to again for the whitewater; though if I had the leisure to
spend time repeating the same experience it is certainly a place I
would go to over and over again for the *place*. As it is, though,
while my leisure time is so sharply constrained, I will keep going to
places new and different, and save a repeat trip to the Middle Fork
until after I retire.

-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
.. Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
.. rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================