Selway

My son and I did a four day trip hiking up from the take-out with packrafts over two days and then paddling back down over two days. We had some great fishing opportunities and also carried swim goggles with us to experience the incredibly clear water and observe all the trout. The water was plenty warm for swimming. The best part about packrafting from the bottom is we did not have to plan a shuttle or worry about flows as there is plenty of water in the river on the whole section below Moose Creek.

We hiked up the first two days when flow was at 870 cfs and 770 cfs respectively and passed about half a dozen groups who were floating down with some who had started at the top at Paradise and others who had flown in to one of the air strips. We went at a slow pace hiking in with frequent fishing and swimming stops on the way making it to Pinchot Creek by the second night. On the third day we left our camping gear and hiked up a bit from Pinchot Creek before inflating our packrafts and beginning the journey back downstream, picking up our overnight gear as we passed Pinchot Creek. Flows on this first day of floating were at 790 cfs. We camped one more night on the river at Cupboard Creek where we had some more great fishing and a bear feasting on the berry bushes at the edge of our camp. On day four we had flows of 755 cfs that took us back to our car at the take-out with more fishing along the way. I highly recommend the August packraft trip of hiking up from the bottom as an option for those who want simple logistics and a spectacular river river trip.