The trip started with a lot of driving in my new car, a Subaru Forester. I picked up Will, and then we had some trouble packing my new car; the car is similar in size to my old car, but taller and shorter, so it packs differently, but we got it done. We camped in Evanston, Wyoming, at Phillips Campground, which was pretty nice. I was sleepy so Will drove most of way. My new car got 15 mpg at 75 mph with a headwind, a loaded car and two canoes on roof. Most of the trip we got 20 to 25 mpg, depending in speed and wind.
We got up at 6:30 AM, and were on the road by 8 after breakfast. We drove hard to Stanley Idaho, the last outpost of civilization before we drop into the River of No Return Wilderness. We had dinner in Stanley, and kept going to put in, arriving just before dark. Larry and Dave were already there.
We got up at 6:30 AM, and were greeted by this sign, reminding us that this was going to be a challenging trip. We packed our boats, and left at 10 am, not bad. Dave immediately broached his boat on a rock, within sight of the put in, not the best way to start. (A broach is when your boat is sideways to the current, pinned against a rock). The river was very low, 1.7 feet; we hit lots of rocks, and had some broaches and flips. Larry made it look easy in his 17 foot canoe. It was a beautiful day, but with all the problems, we only made 9 miles, to Boot Camp. The slow progress was a concern, given that the overall trip is 100 miles, and we planned a 7 day trip. All in all, a rough start to our trip. It rained a bit that night, as it did most of the trip.
Day 2 was another beautiful day, on river by 10 AM. We scraped a lot of rocks, especially on my boat. We had one flip, better than day 1. The final rapid was Pistol Pete; it looked tough, but we all ran it OK, then camped at Pistol Pete camp. We made 13 miles, better than day 1. I looked at my hull and found a crack, so I was hoping my boat would make it to the end of the trip.
It was rainy overnight, especially when packing up. First stop on Day 3 was at the Ranger station to get our permit , and choose campsites. Indian Creek is a sizable place, with a mile long dirt airstrip; most late season trips start here to avoid the rocks upstream. The weather improved as the day went on, but I was cold most of day, in my wet suit, I should have put on more clothes. Each creek adds more water to the river, and there was less scraping on rocks. We sat in the Sunflower hot springs, next to the river. One cool thing we saw was three otters fishing, we were able to watch them for while. This was a 20 mile day, to Mahoney camp at mile 42; we were tired from the long day. We were able to partially dry gear, which was good.
Larry made a campfire every night. I don't generally make campfires on trips, but it was pleasant to sit around the fire and chat each night. Larry went fishing almost every night, generally catching and releasing fish.
Another constant on this trip, at least for me, was that I took very few photos on the water. We were constantly dodging rocks, which left us without a spare hand for the camera. Similarly, when you are constantly dodging rocks, you don't have time to look at the map often enough to really be sure where you are.
Day four was overcast, cool, and comfortable. This was a short day, 3.5 hrs, to Lower Grouse camp. I started wearing my dry suit, which is warmer than my wet suit. We hiked to the hot spring at Loon Creek. On the way back, we helped a pilot haul gear to his 180, and watched him take off from the dirt strip. My muscles and shoulders were sore. We spoke at length to a hunting guide about trapping wolves, and how smart wolves were.
Day five was my favorite day so far. We started with Tappan Falls, where one boat flipped. I finally got synced with the map, which had been a continuing annoyance, not being sure where we were. It was nice weather, mostly cloudy. The rapids were interesting, but not too hard, and there was less scraping on rocks. We stopped at the Flying B ranch, where we drank cold beer, delivered by aircraft. We stayed at Survey camp. It started to rain as we were cooking dinner; have you noticed a pattern?
When we got up on day 6 it was raining hard, so we got underway at 10:40 instead of 10. I broached, flipped, and swam in a class 2 rapid, my first and only swim of the trip. I blew the whistle to get Larry and Dave's attention, but they were trying to figure out which bird that that sound! They did figure it out and helped me to shore. The weather improved as the day went on. We camped at Parrot Placer, an 18 mile day. We dried gear at camp under partly cloudy skies, until there was a sudden rain squall. We planned to get underway early in the morning, so we could do some driving on the take out day.
On day 7, we got on the water at 9:30. It had rained overnight. There were many big rapids back to back, often spectacular and intimidating runs through groups of big boulders. The weather improved as the day continued. There were a couple of swims. This was a bad day for boat damage. Larry broke a thwart, and Will found a hole in the hull when we got to take out, apparently from the last day. We had the traditional group dinner in Salmon. Will and I drove to Pocatello Idaho, and arrived at super 8 at 10:30 pm.
Day 8 involved a lot of driving through Wyoming. Our fuel mileage improved to 30 mpg, due to a tailwind. The drive was straightforward and trouble free, and I still love my new car.
So what did I think of the Middle Fork? On the down side, it hurt me to beat up my boat as much as I did. I have fiberglass repair work to do. I have never been on a trip where most of the boats sustained significant damage. Would I do it again at that water level? I am not sure; perhaps I would not do it in that canoe. I paddle a Dagger Caption, which seemed to be lower in the water than the other canoes, scraping over rocks constantly, and sometimes coming to a complete stop, requiring me to get out until I got past the rocky section.
I found the river at this level technically challenging; I can imagine that in higher water there would be less rock scraping, but the rapids and waves would be bigger, and perhaps too difficult for my canoeing skills. We did almost no hiking, partly because we were tired and also because that was not a goal for the trip.
The River of No Return Wilderness was very beautiful. Larry was unfailingly cheerful, and Dave had an endless supply of interesting stories from Afghanistan and elsewhere. Will is one of my best friends, so the company could not be beat.
A great trip, perhaps the most difficult river trip that I have made to date. As Cynthia said "Richard does not do easy."
