The Middle Fork of the Salmon

Six Day Itinerary

While we have four and five day options on the Middle Fork, the majority of our trips are six days, with five nights of comfortable camping.

Pre-trip orientation

The evening before the trip you meet at 8 PM at the Mountain Village Lodge in Stanley, ID. The head guide will distribute waterproof bags, sleeping bags and air mattresses, so you can get packed up. You'll meet your fellow rafters, and be able to ask all of those questions that have popped up since you left home. The guide will tell you what time to be ready in the morning (usually 8 AM) and also where to leave cars that are being shuttled.

Day 1

You'll want to eat breakfast and meet your group in front of the hotel at the designated time, packed and dressed for the river. Early season (May- early July), the bus delivers you to Boundary Creek, (around an hour drive). Late season (late July-September) the first 25 miles of the river are too low to run, so you'll fly to Indian Creek aboard a small charter plane. The flight is short but beautiful, and lands on an airstrip right along the Middle Fork.

If I had to choose one river to run, once a year for the rest of my life, the choice would be easy. I would choose the Middle Fork.

- Jeff Rennicke, river guide and writer

Once at the river you'll meet the rest of the guides, listen to a brief talk from a Forest Service official about caring for the canyon, and hear a safety talk from an ECHO guide. During this time, the guides are loading the boats and preparing to shove off. The large supply raft, or sweep boat, will leave before everyone else, in order to arrive at camp early and get the tents up and kitchen arranged for your arrival.

Each day you'll have three kinds of boat to choose from. Guides row the oar rafts. They are the place to be for relaxation, viewing the canyon, and spotting wildlife. In paddle rafts everyone gets a paddle and is expected to help. The guide sits in the back, gives commands and steers. Paddle rafts require more energy that oar rafts. They are also more fun. Inflatable kayaks, or duckies, are one or two person boats. They are for the bold and energetic. They are most apt to get really wet, but they are also the most fun.

Experienced guests usually come knowing what kind of boat they want. For everyone else, we recommend that you rotate between the boats, according to your energy and comfort level.

If you begin at Boundary Creek you'll encounter a small, fast stream with lots of rocks. Be ready to paddle and listen to your guide's commands. It is too tricky for inflatable kayaks in this section. If you begin at Indian Creek the river is larger and more gentle, and safe for the kayaks.

You will stop in the early afternoon for lunch and to stretch your legs, and then head downstream for camp. We like to hit camp early this first day, so we can have time to ease into our camp routine. There should be time for swimming, fishing, reading, visiting, or maybe a short hike. Hors d'oeuvres will be served first, followed by your first hearty river dinner.

Day 2

This is our first full river day. Coffee, tea and juice will be ready by 7, and breakfast by 8. Each morning there will be hearty traditional breakfast fare (pancakes and bacon, French toast and sausage, eggs-to-order etc.) as well as lighter food such as cereal, yogurt, and fruit. You won't go hungry on an ECHO trip!

After breakfast you'll pack up and bring your big waterproof bag down to the sweep boat, which will again leave early for tonight's camp. It will take an hour or more to get camp broken down and packed up. This is fine, because you'll want the day to warm up before you get wet.

Once again, you'll float until early afternoon, and stop an hour or so for lunch. Some time during the day there might be an extra stop, to visit a hot spring, take a short hike, view the Native American pictographs or otherwise break our river routine. Depending on the stops you make and the distance between your assigned campsites, you'll arrive in camp in the early to late afternoon.

Days 3-5

You'll follow the routine of DAY 2, with coffee around 7, breakfast around 8, on the river between 9 and 10, lunch early afternoon, camp early evening, hors d'oeuvres followed by dinner. As the trip continues you'll form bonds, have more experiences to share in the evenings, and get into the flow of the river.

Day 6

On this last day you'll wake up deep in Impassable Canyon, where the river is at least five times bigger than where you started. Breakfast will be served as usual and you'll load up for this last stretch of the Middle Fork. You'll float through the confluence of the Middle Fork with the Main Salmon, where there's one more great rapid to end the trip.

You'll arrive at the Cache Bar take-out in the early afternoon. While the guides de-rig the rafts and load up, you'll partake of a hearty lunch that has been brought from town. Hopefully you'll get a group photo before bidding the river farewell. You'll load up in the bus and head for Salmon, ID. We make one stop on the way back to Salmon, at the general store in North Fork for ice cream.

You'll arrive at the Stagecoach Inn in Salmon in the early afternoon. We recommend spending the night here as a way of easing your re-entry into the real world. Groups often meet up with their guides at the Shady Nook Restaurant for a farewell dinner.