This last week we joined an exploratory trip down Idaho’s South Fork of the Salmon River. This is a little known tributary to the Salmon River near the more famous Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The South Fork is rarely run since it has difficult Class IV and V rapids that can only be run in a narrow range of flows for a few weeks each year.
We started our trip on the Secesh River, which is an upper tributary of the South Fork of the Salmon. We rafted 6 miles of continuous Class III and IV rapids with wonderful Alpine Scenery before meeting the South Fork.
Horseshoe Bend on the Secesh River
At the confluence with the South Fork we joined a few other boaters and loaded up our overnight gear before an evening float to our first night camp. It was amazingly beautiful floating down the deep, rocky canyon in the early evening.
The next day brought many, many Class IV rapids in quick succession as well as the Class V rapids Devil Creek and Elk Creek. It was an exciting whitewater day that ended at a beautiful camp site just past Elk Creek.
Entering Devil Creek Rapid
Our third day had many, many more rapids punctuated with a few stops along the way. Our first stop was to check out a steam boiler and incinerator that were built and reportedly never used.
Smokestack for the steam boiler
We also made a stop to check out some pictographs including one that someone in the group referred to as the “Circle of Life” which seemed very fitting.
The Circle of Life
The crux of the trip was Fall Creek Rapid, which was a long Class V rapid that started by dodging some HUGE holes and making our way over several difficult drops before the final plunge down the final big drop among giant boulders.
The bottom drop of Fall Creek Rapid
For our final night we camped just above the confluence with the Main Salmon and we celebrated our successful runs through Fall Creek and the countless other rapids. We woke up on our fourth day and enjoyed the final 20 miles of the Main Salmon River between Mackay Bar and Vinegar Creek.
Floating down the Salmon River
For more photos, please check out our Flickr Set titled South Fork of the Salmon.
