Kootenai

The page shows 5,000 CFS being the cutoff as being too low, but I have been paddling it recently at 4,000 CFS as everything else in the area is still frozen in. While it does not have the zest of high-water Kootenai, I would say it is well worth it if you are in the area and fixing for a run. Headbanger becomes more technical and requires some maneuvering around rocks at the lead-in but runs just fine. I've attached a youtube video for reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ29K3gFxoM

The river left line is almost completely dry at this level. But a chute opens up that runs more or less parallel to the lip of the far left falls and drops over into the center falls pool. The height is probably around 5-7 feet shorter than the main center falls. At the bottom of this drop, it looks like a shallow ledge on the left, but the pool center and right are deep. Just out of frame to the left is a big 8ft pourover that has a nasty hole but you can pull out if you choose not to run it.

Below the falls, the river is split by a giant island. The right channel is a series of rapids with various wave trains and holes at this level. The river left channel consists of basically one small II- drop and this 15' drop about 50-60 yards down stream. At this level there are a couple of flakes to hit, or a spot in the center with a steep lip. The bottom is plenty deep and not too retentive. There is also a small 6-8 foot wide chute on river left of this channel with a more gradual lip that could be easily shot depending upon the exact level. The pool below this rapid is big and calm at this level and is the eddy downstream of the island that marks the confluence of the who channels again.

This page needs way more information about the river!!!

this run goes anywhere bellow about 24,000 cfs. any level above that and it becomes just a bunch of large eddy lines and boils.

the easiest level is between 8,000 and 10,000 for river running (class IV pool drop). levels bellow that become slightly more technical but still are not that bad. with higher water than 10,000 the river becomes much more continuous.

PLAY:
4,000 - 6,000 cfs
little super wave.
this wave is in the same spot as super wave but much friendlier. a good spot for learning to surf.

9000 - 11000
three holes
down by the stair case/ playground rapid right before the swinging bridge. these three holes next are to each other. you can start in an the eddy then go to into the first hole, you can then work your way into the other two holes.

12,000-18,000
super wave. the real super wave is optimal at 14,000. at higher flows it can be difficult to get out of. at really high flows it starts to flaten out.

WATERFALLS:
There are a ton of different waterfall lines on the main falls.
going from river left to right you have: MAIN FALLS, aprox 20 ft. this one runs at about 14,000 cfs and higher. it is probably easiest of the waterfall lines on the river. it only takes a little bit of time to walk back up so you can run it again. I was able to run it twice in two minutes. at high water this drop can become nasty. Right next to the main falls is TAHITI. this drop is about 20ft it can be run when the main falls is low 12,000-14,000 cfs.
THE MIXING BOWL: this spot has three different lines that drop into one bowl which then feeds into a 5 foot ledge drop called doinker falls . above 8,000 cfs you can run any of the three lines into the mixing bowl. at about 12,000 it gets a bit harder to manage and doinker becomes a pretty sticky hole.

This would be no good in a raft. Short section of WW, top drop too vertical to do in a rubber boat. -(sounds like a kayaker wrote this)

This page is actually pretty misleading. There's only a mile or two of good whitewater out of the 20 they have listed. For just the class IV stretch, put in about 10 miles west of Libby at the Kootnai Falls parking lot on rt. 2, and take out river left when the canyon opens up. It's a short enough shuttle to be easily walked or biked.

Also, I ran it this week at 7,000 cfs, and though there's a rock on the lip of the right side of the drop that could mess with you, it's good to go at that level.

Lots of channels on the falls at this level, from IV+ to V+

What is the best flows for superwave???

The line was on the river left side of the falls.

River left side of the falls.

Superwave looking gigantic. More pics and video available:
www.middlebury.edu/~nvandal
Kootenai Falls looking big, but runnable. More pics and video at www.middlebury.edu/~nvandal

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