Salmon, South Fork

American Whitewater staff got our for an evening trip on the Methodist run that continued on down to Otter Bar. It was a great flow for this run with lots of bouncy fun whitewater and a few holes to avoid. For the most part the run was high-water class III+ with small eddies and swift current. Opinions differed on the rating of the last two miles but at this higher flow I would call it class IV, with Lower Indian Crossing being a particularly tricky rapid with a line that was not easy to see without getting out on river left to scout. We had a raft flip here but were able to pick up the pieces and continue on down the run.

American Whitewater staff got out for an evening trip on the Methodist run that continued on down to Otter Bar. It was a great flow for this run with lots of bouncy fun whitewater and a few holes to avoid. For the most part the run was high-water class III+ with small eddies and swift current. Opinions differed on the rating of the last two miles but at this higher flow I would call it class IV, with Lower Indian Crossing being a particularly tricky rapid with a line that was not easy to see without getting out on river left to scout. We opted to boat scout and follow the lead of Scott, our local guide who knew the run. Total float time for the run was 1:40 ending at Otter Bar Lodge where we caught a couple of surfs at the Otter Bar Surf Waves.

A great intro to packrafting the Salmon watershed with local yaker (and apparently a ninja packrafter) Scott Harding.

Low end of high flow and perfect for a hardshell cataraft run on Methodist with a novice paddling partner.

Woke up to snow so I made a microhydro-powered latté and headed upriver for a quick Methodist run back to home. 4500 cfs at Some Bar gage, a good medium flow on this run with fun waves; took 1 hour 17 minutes to get down to Forks of Salmon.

Fun high-water Methodist run in the afternoon. Great surf and play at this flow, definitely take a half slice boat!