Payette, S. Fork

Always a crowd pleaser with the kids, it was great to get on another run of Swirly Canyon. We started shortly after 1pm, with some of us coming from upstream on a run of the Canyon, and finished up around 4pm that included a quick dip at the hot springs along the way.

It was a a bit of a rough, but fun ride, with lots of big braces involved but we made it through 'Swirly Canyon' upright in our half slices (which I was  grateful for since rolling in there seems rough)! We had two packrafters with us who reported a much easier time.

We did this as trip with the kids including a few hardshell kayaks and inflatable kayaks. The heart of swirly canyon was very dynamic at these flows but we made it through with just one swim (a parent). The whole trip was about 3 hours with a stop at the hot spring for lunch.

We decided due to the consecutive nature of the canyon into swirly canyon that we would knock them both out in one 20.5 mile float, bad idea. I'm not sure if the description of this run is inaccurate, or if there was some huge flood that washed all of the rapids away but this run was way less exciting than the description makes it out to be.

From the Danskin access down there were a couple smaller class II rapids that had long stretches of flatwater inbetween. At some point during this stretch we stopped for lunch and a few cold ones after completing the Canyon. At some point the river will make an S turn, slamming into the left wall before slamming into the right wall and then through a narrow canyon for roughly 1/4 to 1/2 mile. In this narrow canyon there were many points where the canyon wall would constrict and open up again, creating very funky eddies, boil lines and whirlpools. We all managed to get spun around at some point against our will though none of us swam. I'd imagine a swim in the stretch would not be fun as there are really no breaks in the swirlies and there are no still eddies to pull off into. Such a strange section of river to have such intense currents where the river really doesn't drop any noticeable elevation.

After the canyon opens up again and the swirlies stop, be prepared for a long slow float out to the Alder Creek Road as anything that really resembles whitewater is over with. There are a few riffles and the occasional class I-II rapid but we couldn't find the 'UPW' or any of the other noted rapids on this run though we did see the old dam site. The last mile and a half or so of this run is pretty much flatwater. This is definitely not the 'II-III' run we were expecting and we would very likely not had done it if we had known we were getting into a 'I-II' run. There were a lot of cool little hot springs along the river, though many appear to have been developed and then abandoned by landowners still littered with no trespassing signs as if they have cared for the past two decades. The swirly canyon itself was really cool but short and not particularly worth it when you have to tack on the rest of the run too.

Kids trip through Swirly Canyon.

Kids on Swirly Canyon

Kids on Swirly Canyon

Kids trip through Swirly Canyon.

Ran Swirly's 4/27/13 and there was a sign on the put in ramp warning of a tree across the river. There was indeed a tree fully across the river in one of the narrowest sections of the Canyon but it was mostly submerged at 800cfs from the gauge at the SF Payette/Deadwood confluence. It looks challenging to cut out as its submerged but we were able to eddy out above it and float our 14' oar rig though no problem so there may be no need to cut it out either...

Put-in ramp at Danskin Station Rest Area for the Swirly Canyon section of the Payette's South Fork. Photo taken at low water. This is the remains of the old dam near Danskin Station on the Payette South Fork. Photo is taken at low water.