Boundary Creek offers paddlers a seemingly endless barrage of continuous Class IV and V boulder rapids. While the run is 7.5 miles long if you start at the border, most paddlers describe it as 9-11 miles because it feels so long. This run is best attempted only by paddlers comfortable boat scouting and read-and-running steep class IV and V rapids. If you are that kind of paddler, you are in for a remote panhandle treat. A relatively new online USGS gage offers paddlers terrific flow information.
American Whitewater (John Gangemi) played a lead role in defeating a proposed dam on Boundary Creek. A new identical proposal has emerged and now threatens Boundary Creek.
Directions to Boundary Creek Takeout
Note: lat/longitude coords are only barest ballpark numbers.
Sign up to join the Sultan River (WA) working group and stay informed on issues related to improving flows through hydropower relicensing.
There is now an online USGS gage that offers great realtime flow information, however there is very little paddling beta associated with readings on this gage. Please add a comment to this streampage with your flow and what you thought of the run.
What is known is that 550 cfs is a runnable high flow, at which much of the river resembles Golf Course on the North Fortk Payette. A minimum flow might be around 250 but that is only a guess.
Historically Boundary Creek paddlers sought 600-800 cfs on Smith Creek above the diversion dam. Smith Falls Hydro can be reached at 208-267-2744, and be sure to thank the good folks there for sharing flow information.
Permits are not required for this reach.
48.9953002929688,-116.568000793457
48.9995994567871,-116.568000793457
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We have no additional detail on this route. Use the map below to calculate how to arrive to the main town from your zipcode.
Boundary Creek
If someone gets hurt on a river, or you read about a whitewater-related injury, please report it to American Whitewater. Don't worry about multiple submissions from other witnesses, as our safety editors will turn multiple witness reports into a single unified accident report.
American Whitewater recently prepared a report on the streams of the Idaho Panhandle that are eligible for Wild and Scenic designation based at least in part on their regionally or nationally significant recreational values. We have asked the Forest Service to find each of these streams eligible for Wild and Scenic designation and thus grant them interim protection.
Last week American Whitewater and a group of regional environmental organizations intervened in opposition of a proposed dam and diversion on northern Idaho's Boundary Creek. The proposed hydropower project would de-water a spectacular and remote whitewater stream, and would impact a stunning array of rare, threatened, and endangered species.
Earlier today the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) cancelled the permit that had granted a limited liability corporation exclusive rights to study and pursue de-watering Boundary Creek, located in Northern Idaho. The proposed hydropower project would have severely impacted over 6 miles of the pristine and biologically vital stream in the wild Selkirk Mountains.
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Idaho is proposing a $13 registration fee for non-motorized boats greater than 7 feet in length. Under this registration fee proposal all kayaks and rafts on Idaho waters would be required to have a registration sticker fixed to the bow of each boat greater than 7 feet in length. Stickers would not be transferable between boats. Out of state boaters would be required to comply as well.
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