Salmon, Middle Fork

It was 3.85 at boundry.  We thought this would be a great level to bring big cats and have a great time and we did.  However, we also ripped our 3 cat boats that were each 17 feet long.  The round boats had no rips or tears.  My point in mentiioning this is that you need to bring your repair kit at this level and it should include tear aid for quick fixes on the river and sta bond for real repairs at camp with MEK and plenty of patch material. One boat ripped a 18 inch hole in the boat.  Believe or not tear aid got it to camp where we could do real repair.  You should also air your boats down.  The professional guides said essentially the same thing to us with all the recent rock fall and the sharp rocks in the river.

At this level with any boat 16 feet and up Velvet is nothing.  Just plow through it if you like or move to the left, it just does not matter. The left sneak route is easy at this level but you don't need it in a big boat.

Also most of the class IV rapids are not bad and should be class III at these flows.  The only rapid that gave us problems was Devils tooth and that was because you can't see the giant hole hiding in plain site and you can be like our 13 foot boat which was ejected up clean into the air befor landing upside down.  It was amazing what that hole did to a 13 foot fully loaded boat.

The hardest rapid is Redside by far and at these water levels the left line in by far the easiest.  I only needed two mild strokes to miss the big rock in the middle of the current.  We watched commercial and private groups at this level the the center and far right lines nearly wiped our alot of boaters.  Lots of lucky people at these levels.

Weber at 3.8 was nothing but a simple wave train down the middle.  Speaking of over rated rapids Cramer creek is no IV at these levels.  Run it straight down the middle.  Just grins.  There is a large hole on the bottom far right and rocks on the far left but nothing in the middle of the river.  My  boys saw this rapid and decided to swim it and it was super fun to swim.

If you have people who want to kayak that don't have a lot of experience start them at Indian Spring air strip.  The 30 miles of whitewater below this is super fun and this is where commercial companies allow guest to kayak.

Tappan falls line in the far right and it easy if you hit the line, if not flipping or pinning on a rock is possible.

Now both Loon Creek and Flying B have a little store with ice cream and hard goods.  I am told both will do lunch for you if you make plans ahead of time.

Big snag camp has a small beach but if you miss it there is a large cobble bar after it at these flow.

Finally, the petroglyphs and the Veil cave and hot springs were all great.  Don't miss the petroglyph of the really well endowed man!  I am not going to tell you which one it is.

We camped at Elk Bar, Old Snag, Johnny  Walker, State Land Right.  All were good.