Alkasazi: Lower Salmon River, Idaho

This is the view for almost 8 hours: brown rolling hills, powerlines, and the back of a trailer. You occasionally get a break in the form of wind turbines or a gas station, but other than that, it's more miles of the same. On the plus side, the stereo's not working, so at least there's nothing to listen to. It's just a matter of covering the miles, knowing when we get there it'll all be worthwhile.

'There' would be the Lower Salmon River in Idaho. 70 miles of semi-remote, classic high-desert river. It's been 4 years since my last trip, and the first time on a river for Rocio & Yuvia. Rocio's been asking me to take her rafting since we started dating, but somehow the timing's never worked out. This year we finally decided we were going no matter what. So the planning began in May, trickled through the summer, and as usual, once September rolled around we finished in a panicked rush.

It's amazing how rusty I've gotten. Rigging a raft, which used to be second nature, seemed to take half the day. My good friend Erin, who brought me on this river the first time, was having similar frustrations.

We ended up putting on in the evening, then floating maybe a mile before stopping for the night, mostly just so we could say we got on the river. But like I said before, it's all worth it once you're on water. We had 5 wonderful days. Hearing Yuvia laugh as she ran her first rapids had to be one of the highlights of the trip. Aiden started learning to row, and even paddled his own duckie through Blue Canyon. He's ridden in my lap through a lot of this river and others, but it was exciting (and terrifying!) watching him do it for himself.
The Salmon's a perfect family river. The rapids are fun, the scenery varies constantly, and the white sand beaches are about as good as it gets. I look forward to camp each afternoon just so I can relax in a chair, stick my toes in the water, enjoy a refreshing beverage, and bask in the late afternoon sun.
We had warm, sunny days, cool evenings, and only a bit of rain. The kids picked their campsites, set up their own tents, and even helped with groover duty (when we could get them out of the water). Since we pulled them out of school for a week to make the trip, they kept a journal each day.

Aiden put quite a bit of effort into his, and probably tells most of the trip story better than I do.

Monday Sep 11 06
Day Two
got out of bed. had Apple jacks, packed up and left.

we had pb&j for lunch. did some more rapids and set camp. now we are making dinner. we went 15 miles out of 70. I forgot, we saw pictographs. 70-15+55

Day Three
We rowed for 6 miles then we cut the day short and staged at an awesome beach with great swimming. We swam for a long time. I dug a big hole. We are at mile 48. 55-6=48

Day Four
We ran Snow Hole and China which are class three and class four and are the biggest rapids on the trip. Late at night we saw a young buck and a big toad. We are at mile 38. 48-10=38

Day Five
I started with the duckie and used it most of the day, even in big rapids by myself. We are at mile 1. We have one mile left to the Snake then 20 miles left to the takeout.

The last day on the Snake ended up being a long one. The winds were booming from the moment we left camp, and didn't let up until just before Heller Bar. It made for a lot of rowing, but we made the takeout right at sunset, then headed into Lewiston for food and showers. It was incredible to share somethingthat been such a big part of my life the last 10 years with Rocio. I can't believe it took us that long to get out here. A lot of work goes into these trips before, after, and during. It's worth every moment of it though. We'll be back, and soon...