Is there anywhere in the upper section near Palmer Junction to launch a drift boat? Saw some great water in a couple places there the other day, but I’m new to rowing a drift boat and not up for what you are showing here. Hoping there a good easier run from Palmer Junction area with a good take out before it gets crazy in the Gorge!
If you are new to running a drift boat I would not recommend trying to launch up by Palmer. 1. Still a decent class III and some fairly challenging class II Boulder gardens. 2. Most importantly there isn’t a great take out before the class IV gorge. Unless you like the idea of dragging your boat by hand for a long distance through a trail.
DO NOT! A drift boat belongs below Flaming Geyser only! Putting in at Palmer is at minimum boat death. And as he said, no way out until Geyser. That gorge would destroy a drift boat and throw you out of it.
Wow, just found this video and had to look up an old shared group spreadsheet to see when we launched, because I know it was around that time. Long story short, we were just behind you as we launched on the 13th, passed corn creek on the 18th, and got to riggins on the 21st. Small world. Cheers. 🍻
@@waflycaster7319 yeah, that was my first trip down and I've done a couple main trips since then, but I had no idea how lucky we were to be able to combine the two for my first trip. I'd love to get the opportunity again, but I'll take what I can get. I've got a spot on the middle for June 30th and it's got me watching all these middle fork videos. I'm gonna try and swim the entirety this year on my riverboard. I've done the main like that, but am looking forward to doing the middle, as I have a much thicker wetsuit this time. Wish me luck! 😆👍
Richard Denholm Hind sight is 20/20..,m pretty sure if i had high sided quickly enough it would have still taken me over with as much force as it flipped when both ends of the raft were pinned on other raft and rock. You can see in the video the entire boat was out of the water when I exited.
1carve2 yeah tappan 2 and 3 were changed in 2008ish with the blowout of cove creek. Some call it cove, some tappan 2.5 and some tappan 38& when I went down it in 2012 and 13 we called it tappan II as there was no rapid between tappan falls and cove creek. Ya don’t know until ya know and I’m not editing a video made 7 years ago haha
@@waflycaster7319 yeah that makes sense. At that time T2 was completely underwater. It's kind of coming back out now as the back fill at Cove gets moved around. Cheers brother.
Oared my way through this back in 2004 at the age of 13 with a boat I'd made. Best experience of my life. Now I have epilepsy and have to hang back while family and friends do trips. Glad I got to do it at least once, though. Thanks for the great footage and bringing back those old memories to reminisce on.
Peter EerNisse not sure what your getting at but you can pull against the current or push down stream I did a little bit of both in this video. I also missed judged a line (mistake) after the first drop where my momentum carried me further left than I wanted and to the opposite side of rock than intended and the bottom was completely unplanned.
Nice vid gents. I love plugging, it’s what I do 90% of the time now. Nice taste in music too, even tho I prefer more videos without. Ohhh man that sun coming up and having your plugs just working that perfect slot... can’t beat it...... I can’t wait for this winter/spring. Can’t freakin wait.
Looks like a great trip! Definitely on my bucket list... Just my opinion but your friends were wearing helmets for a reason. Being in a wilderness setting and on a bony run, you might want to consider it next time. You never know! Nice video...
Nice video. We've done the Selway 4 times. The first trip, the level was right at one foot. Spent much of the first day dragging boats over rocks. We used to spend a week with a layover at Moose Creek and another above Wolf. Very nice run at Wolf. No matter the level, when you scout Wolf there is a serious pucker factor going on. I think Ladle has the reputation because it is so big that 1) it makes it much more technical and 2) If you pin or flip it is often too far for any help to reach you. We had a big cat boat take the chute to the left of the one you took. He went straight for the wall on the house rock and stood on end for a few seconds before going into a death spiral. My son was a passenger. He scrambled up to the top like a monkey and swung over to the underside when it flipped, never getting wet. He couldn't get the pilot out of the water so he just jumped from side to side, steering it down the left side. (this was at 3.5 feet so doable) I was very proud of him. Very nice runs.
Brian Wade the USGS site you linked to is down in Auburn below Soos Creek and other tributaries. The gorge section flow is best estimated by the gauging station that comes out of the headworks waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?site_no=12106700&PARAmeter_cd=00060,00065
John Derf I've run it to 3300 it's bigger waves and hydraulics but I'd almost say easier, than when it's 1300-1400. Lots more rocks come into play at lower water levels.
This video doesn't have dagger falls on it, we started at boundary creek, dagger falls is slightly above the put-in at boundary creek. A quick search will show many dagger falls videos though.
LOVE THAT "Guide's View" GoPro stand on the rear of the raft. It allows those of us who know how to read water to...you know...read the water! You scored some cherry camps, like Wilson & Otter Bar (which is THE shortest row out on de-rig day. Looks like you also had a good long taste of that perfect mid-summer Idaho weather. Bravo!
10:59 is "Hancock Rapid", and at 7-8 foot water the wave train at the banker left swing in the top provides a set of about ten 12-15 foot glass, and one of the most remarkable river features you'll ever see...you just have to put up with all the other nasty when the river is that high...like the vicious stuff down around "House of Rocks"...Yikes!
That aw-blade skyline downriver from Wilson Camp is composed of Folded Belt Sediments, and it is the oldest rock in the canyon, ticking in at between 1.4 and 1.47 Billion years old! I think the evening presentation of that skyline is one of the best on the trip.
Oops...3:13 would be the "new" Lake Creek Rapid, which in 2006 resulted in a massive log jam that captured 300+ rafters upriver for 3 days before the Forest Service sent in an explosives team to take out the log jam in Pistol Rapid with a single, perfectly placed charge. At Pistol Rapid, my strategy was counter intuitive: Direct the bow up on to that cushion at the hard left, take the weak reversal, and glide past the "Magnetic Rock" on the left bank with hardly a stroke...try that next time...but only at flows less than 5 feet!
3:13 is the new (post 2007) extended version of "Pistol Creek Rapid", which is a near complete rearrangement from my days of guiding on the Middle Fork way back in the 1970's.
