2011 Summer Wrap - Part 1

There are a lot of reasons why I kayak. Sure I like the adventure, the challenge, the beauty of seeing new and unexplored places but at its core kayaking is a lot of fun. In the words of Don from Small World Adventures "whats wrong with just fun?". In this vein of thought, I had a few goals for 2011 of doing this run or that river, having less out of boat experiences, etc but my top goal was just to have fun and do whatever is in good and no else embodies fun whitewater more than Idaho.

This year I had my sights on the Secesh South Salmon combo and while flows/weather didn't cooperate for the Secesh. The South Salmon was oh so good...albeit quite a bit lower than the previous year we were in there at. If you're looking for a wilderness river in Idaho to do sans permit I would highly recommend the South Salmon, in fact having done it twice now I think I'm going to make it an annual pilgrimage.

Every trip to Idaho should include some time spent on a white sandy beach. Ideally you will also have access to a blender.

Running through Devils Creek

They don't call it the whitewater state for nothing

Yup, its good, its fun, and there have been rumors of a Bikini Creek hidden deep in Idaho's wilderness runs.

Boof clinic take 1 - Fall Creek Rapid and the end of the goodness

A good forward stroke

Boof clinic take 2 - I'm pretty sure this man might be the most bad ass human being I've meet in recent hishtory

Paddlers in Idaho like long fast boats and usually aren't this color coordinated.

If you venture to the SF you'll also get to enjoy a scenic ~20 mile paddle on the main and get to see a bit of this.

If you venture to the SF you'll also be about 2hrs away from the best 15miles of kayaking in North America which no self respecting kayaker should drive away from. I heart the NF