Series: Things that are pointless on river trips, #1

This is a new series titled "Things that are pointless on river trips"... obvious enough. I'll refer back to the series title whenever I make a post about things that are, well, pointless to bring on a river trip. We'll start our first one off with...

Shish Kabob Skewers

Do not ever bring shish kabob skewers on the river with you. This is pointless. Cut the stuff up, season or marinate the meat, and cook it in a pan over the stove.

If you find yourself using shish kabob skewers you are most likely doing two other things:

1) Wasting a ton of time to put things on a stick that you will later take off the same stick.
2) Touching / massaging raw meat, which is stupid.

If you ever find yourself on a river trip with someone who has brought shish kabob skewers simply grab them all and use them as kindling. You can't eat the sticks so you might as well use them for something positive... like creating a warm camp.

New trip report on OregonRafting.org

After a summer working on Southern California's Kern River for Kern River Outfitters, I was very excited to go to Idaho in early September to work one commercial trip for Idaho River Journeys followed by a September 11th private trip. The group we had was a mix of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana guides. Scooter and I have both spent many summers on the Middle Fork, but this was my very first private trip.

We arrived at Boundary Creek the evening of the 10th and rigged our boats. No one else showed up - we had the eddy to ourselves. Incredible. Hiked up to Dagger Falls and then it was time for some sleep. The next morning we loaded up and pushed off. It was a beautiful day on the river. Water level was around 1.7 feet at the Middle Fork Lodge. We did some rock dodging and sliding but not too much pushing..... Read the full Middle Fork of the Salmon trip report.

It's a wet day in Idaho!

It's been dumping rain here in Salmon, Idaho, for most of the day. A great lightning show and thick clouds rolled into town around 3 PM and was preceded by a drizzly morning. All this rain has the Middle Fork of the Salmon on a slight rise up to 2.05 feet at the Middle Fork Lodge (at 6:42 PM) from about 2.8 feet yesterday.

The Beaverhead Mountain range this morning, covered in clouds:

Middle Fork of the Salmon - big storm coming?

There's a storm hitting Idaho right now that has potential to blow the charts away. Check out this image of the North West River Forecasting Center's Middle Fork of the Salmon River gauge:


The Middle Fork of the Salmon, as far from what I can find, has never hit five-feet on the Middle Fork Lodge gauge in August. We'll just have to wait to see what happens... The NWRFC has been known to be off, but nevertheless things could get exciting.

Forks of the Kern Rafting

Kern River Outfitters of Wofford Heights, CA, did a Forks training trip a few weeks ago. Got some great footage and pictures, which are viewable on their Facebook Fan Page. Here's the video:

Upper Wind River Rafting: March 29, 2009

The Upper Wind River is a fabulous southern Washington run. It's a great read/run stream with many Class IV+ish rapids. Continuous and steep, the Wind makes for a fun day! Zach Collier of River Hardware was on the water with us and was kind enough to snap a few photos:

Middle Fork High Water Contest

Check this out! There's a chance to win river stuff... That will always lift your ears, right? Ok, so the Middle Fork of the Salmon, for those who don't know, is the major tributary to Idaho's Main Salmon (longest free-flowing river in the lower 48...

If you can guess what day/time the river will peak, plus guess the peak flow closer than anyone else... YOU WIN. Here's the link, go wild:

http://www.middleforksalmon.org/contest.html