Bruneau

We were fortunate to score a Bruneau run in July - we put in at Indian Hot Springs on 7/2/19. The flow at the USGS Hot Spring gauge was ~730 cfs and that was plenty sufficient for our self-support group of 2 kayaks and 1 pack raft. Because we squoze this run into a 7-day trip that also included the South Salmon, we only had 2 days to paddle Bruneau. I wish we could have spent more time in this incredibly beautiful canyon! At this flow, most of the whitewater felt like III-III+ with a couple rapids that ramped up to IV-. Road report: the road to the PI is still in pretty terrible shape. We were expecting some less-than-ideal roads and for it to become very slow going once we got to the rim of the canyon, but the rough road conditions started a good 10 miles before we got to the rim. We considered parking at the canyon rim and carrying our boats to the river, but the decision was made to drive all of the way to the river. You really need high-clearance 4x4 for this portion of the road. There was a small wildfire on the other side of the river and we encountered a BLM vehicle driving out of the canyon along this already sketchy section of road. Thankfully, we only had to back up about 15 yards to reach one of the rare places where it’s wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. If you decide to drive all of the way down the road and there’s any chance you may encounter and oncoming vehicle, it’d be a good idea to send somebody down on foot to negotiate with the other drivers. After we unloaded our gear and ate a late lunch, the decision was made to drive the truck back up to the canyon rim so we wouldn’t have to deal with the steep portions in the dark during the post-paddle shuttle. After the driver and his scout hiked back down to the river, we put-in after 5pm and probably made it 15 miles before camping. After the run, I waited with our gear at the take-out while the others retrieved the vehicle at the canyon rim. The round trip took them 4hr 20min! They say the road to the Jarbridge PI is well-maintained. If you have more time than we did and the Jarbridge has sufficient flow, definitely consider that option so you can avoid those gnarly roads.