Salmon, South Fork

Great flow for late May with an enthusastic out-of-town group. We boated the SF Gorge, Middle SF, Methodist, and Forks runs as a single run (20 miles).

A great day on the river in February, prime time for Salmon River boating. Recent rain and a warm spell brought flows up above winter base flows and made for a good run. At 2,600 cfs on the Somes Bar gauge all the rapids have ample water but some of the in-between sections where the river widens and flattens out felt like they could use a little more. I call it the low end of medium flow. Paddlers run this section much lower and much higher than this flow.

This is my favorite flow for this run. Everything is fluffy, padded out, and sometimes just plain juicy but its all good fun. It's the high end of a medium flow or the low end of a high flow.

This day I was leading a solid crew of World Class Kayak Academy students down the run for their first time. They crushed it, and I think we just boat scouted the whole thing.

A couple shots from the SF Gorge at 1800 cfs in April 2014. This run is good at a wide range of flows, from a good bit lower than this to much higher.

Jay Ditty scouting one of the final three drops of South Fork Salmon River gorge.

Otter Bar instructor's run on the SF Gorge on Sunday, June 15, 2003. Kayakers: Ben Jackson and Ethan Winter.