Fun Times with Tommy Hilleke and my family on the Main Salmon River in Idaho with the Ringer!
It is hard to believe, but this was my first Main Salmon River trip, ever. Emily organized a trip with Polly and Tommy Hilleke with Salmon River Adventure Company. The trip included my wife, Kristine, our 14 year old son, KC, Emily, Nick, my grandkids, Tucker, and Parker, and Alec Vorhees.
The Section of river we ran was a 4-day stretch upstream of the main put-in for the typical Main Salmon run. This is a stretch that Tommy/SRAC is testing out for a staple run for their business. Day 1 was a 1/2 day run down to their camp. The rapids are very mellow and it was perfect for Tucker who paddled the entire thing. Alec was in the raft with Kristine and Parker since he just had shoulder surgery. That first night we were able to stay in an amazing “glamping” tent with a king bed and awesome food on day 1. They have a sweet rock climbing set up there and we took advantage of that upon landing at camp.
First thing in the morning we had a sweet breakfast spread with epic pancakes, bacon, coffee, fruit, etc. We did a sweet hike up the mountain behind the camp to warm things up before paddling.
Day 2 whitewater starts off with a bang with one of the biggest rapids of the trip. It was a good test of KC’s desire for big water. I was leading him downstream into a big wave train with some breaking waves and looked back to see his boat vertical and him falling back on his head. Fun, or not fun… that is the question. What it the right answer? Fun of course, since this is what big water is about. Luckily for me, and for him, he rolled up and got back on line and was laughing and smiling big. Whew! I thought to myself- “This is going to be a fun trip!” On Day 2 Kc rolled 4 times. On Day 1 he didn’t want to roll due to the “cold water”. By the end of day 2 the water temp didn’t bother him and rolling was just part of the fun.
We found a great beach and Emily and I did some good fishing. I caught my first “pike minnow” which is an invasive species, but super fun to catch. Emily, like me, can’t help herself and spent a lot of time fishing.
Day 3 was the smallest water day. Emily and I carried our rods on the kayak all day and fished our way down. I got 3 cut-throat trout and 5 Pike Minnows and Emily got some good fish as well. (Not sure how many). Tucker paddled and did great, but one of the rapids was pretty big and scared him. Ultimately he swam as he was so focused on being scared and crying that he was wiping tears out of his eyes while we were still in some pretty big waves. The good news is that Emily got him to shore quickly, he stopped crying, got back in the boat and paddled to camp without being upset. I think the swim may have been good for him as he realized that he had it, and that swimming wasn’t that bad, and that he can do it. Our camp this time had a cool rock cliff jump, plenty of firewood, and a box of wine replaced the beer from the previous nights and I was amazed at how much wine they can fit in a box. ;), and Kristine was amazed that I didn’t already know. Before we discovered the box of wine, we were taking turns surfing a couple of smaller waves at the confluence of the Middle Fork of the Salmon and the Main Salmon in the Apex Ringer. Luke, who is 17 and was rowing the gear raft got in it first and was all smiles and giggles over how it paddled and surfed. Tommy got in it and seemed to be warmed up to it right away and understood what all of Luke’s excitement was from. You could surf, spin, carve and catch the wave with ease compared to the plastic 1/2 slice they were paddling. There was also a great eddyline/seamline that we were able to play on right in front of the camp. Eventually, we had to get out for dinner.
Day 4- a bit more surfing after breakfast, and then the final day stretch to the takeout. A few super fun rapids on this section as well as the volume of the run may have tripled from the put-in to this section. Panther Creek, Middle Fork, and other tributaries coming in over a 4 day stretch of river adds up to a lot of water quickly. Tommy let Luke and Polly row the rafts so I got to paddle with him all day. We got in some good surfs, squirts, and even found one big hole to punch or surf. It was awesome getting to hang with Tommy on the river.
Take out, pack up, and head back up the long dirt road to SRAC where we packed up back into Alec’s truck and made the long drive back to Boise, arriving around midnight for our morning flight. The Drive home was past the South Fork of the Payette, as well as past Cascade Rafting where the Long’s have their business. The Longs were on the same plane as us, coming home from a slalom race in Europe where their grandkids were racing. That was a fun random encounter.
Back to Tennessee, where Rock Island is running!
🙂
EJ