Payette, S. Fork

We had a big group of 17 planning to run the Canyon but a landslide overnight somewhere up in the basin and some precipitation in the headwaters turned the South Fork Payette an angry brown color. We opted for an alternative and the Grandjean section offered the easiest logistics to get on the water. We put in just downstream of the standard Bonneville put-in that puts you at the start of the class III as a river-wide log was visible from the road.

Total float time for the approximately 18 mile trip was a little under 4 hours from Bonneville to Helende. We put in and were on our way around 1:00. Alcatraz took a little time as we had a few swims but we got everyone back together without any issues. We were at the MacDonald Creek Access shortly before 2:00. We passed Ten Mile Creek around 2:40 and reached Helende at 3:30. The group took an approximately 15 minute stretch break at Helende. Our pace slowed a bit at Wake Up Gorge as we had a couple swims there and we reached the Kirkham Hot Spring at 5:00.