Smith Creek

Smith Creek is the Idaho Panhandle must-do for dedicated and adventurous Class V paddlers.  It flows from high in the Selkirk Mountains - a wild range home to Mountain Caribou, Canadian Lynx, and grizzly bears - and is among the best creeks, if not the best creek in Idaho.  It is a hard creek to time, due to a hydro project at the put-in, which unpredictably takes between 0-380 cfs (operators claim that 350 is the steady diversion amount).  Smith Creek hydro can and does alter the flow drastically in a short period of time due to the price of hydro-power relative to the price and availability of wind power in Oregon and Washington. In additions, the bedrock nature of the drainage leads to large fluctuations on a diurnal cycle, and drastic spiking after rain events.

Flows can be ascertained by calling the Smith Creek diversion at (208) 267-2744, they can let you know what the projections are as well as the current flow.  200-300 cfs below the diversion is medium, 100 is minimal but can be done.  A couple hundred feet below the diversion on river left is a staff gage.  6.4' is too low for lower Smith, 8.1' was too high.  6.4' correlated to 75-80 cfs being let into the creek below the diversion.

Because of the classic photo of Doug Ammons on an aesthetic 10-foot slide in the Idaho guidebook, most people think the creek consists of big slides. Smith Creek changes character a few times in its 5 mile, 1700 foot plunge to the Kootenai River.  The only thing that is consistent is that it is steep, and remarkably pool-drop in nature.  There is no flat water, and very little whitewater easier than Class IV.  If you put on Smith Creek, be prepared for a long day with lots of scouting, long rapids, reading-and-running Class IV/V-, and some portaging.  Every rapid has been run, but some of the big drops are more palatable at lower flows, when some of the boulder gardens might feel like a bar-fight.

The whitewater starts directly below the put-in at Smith Cre

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