ITINERARIES

Far and Away Adventures guides and your Retzlaff hosts will meet you this evening. We will discuss how to pack your clothes in a complimentary waterproof duffle bag (yours to keep), answer any questions, and handle any last-minute details. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You can count on Far and Away Adventures to get every detail just right. We’ve been running Middle Fork trips for 40+ years!

Following breakfast at approximately 8AM, we will depart for the Boundary Creek launch point on the Middle Fork from the Far and Away boathouse. We will travel over a 9,000-foot summit into the Stanley Basin that lies beneath the majestic Sawtooth Mountains. This is the headwaters of the mighty Salmon River.

After a quick stop for last-minute items in the small village of Stanley, Idaho, we will continue into the backcountry to the start of your journey at Boundary Creek.

Far and Away Adventure guides and boats will be awaiting your arrival riverside. After a brief orientation and safety talk, we will launch about 10:30-11:00 am. The launch into the Salmon River is nearly 6,000 feet above sea level and immediately enters an enchanted forest of fir and spruce. The river is steep, shallow and narrow as we navigate boulder-choked rapids. With each passing mile, side creeks tumble into the Middle Fork’s clear sparkling water and deepen the flow around our boats.

The Middle Fork is a one-of-a-kind outdoor adventure in North America. Going with Far & Away guarantees it will be an exceptional, top-shelf experience. Very quickly you’ll see that the trip is not only about running the beautiful Middle Fork, but also living it up in a Safari-style, luxurious camp every day. After an active day on the river, you’ll sit in a comfy camp chair and relax under the canopy of big ponderosa pine trees. Listen to them whispering in the wind. Look up, and soak in the mountain majesty scenery while sipping a favorite cocktail or a glass of wine. Each night, you’ll enjoy a four-course gourmet meal with fresh food, topped with a tasty dessert. Prior to the trip, the food is packed in sterilized coolers by professionals in a commercial-prep kitchen in Sun Valley, ensuring that the food is just as fresh on Day 1 as it is on the last day. You’ll feel like royalty as dinner is served on a full-size table covered with Provencal oil cloth, linen napkins and silverware. Fiesta stoneware plates are pre-heated to keep your dinner food nice and hot. Take a moment to look at the stars in the wilderness dark sky before bed.

When you’re ready to sleep, you’ll retire to a spacious walk-in tent with plenty of head room, with carpeting at the entry and inside, and a nightstand and lantern. You’ll sleep on large cots fitted with a 3-inch deluxe sleeping pads, and flannel bedding. Are you starting to get the picture?

Whitewater rapids are frequent on the Middle Fork, particularly in June, when the water is higher and faster, the waves bigger and there’s action-packed excitement for everyone involved. Guides speak the names of rapids with respect and reverence ~ Velvet Falls, Ram’s Horn, the Chutes, Pistol Creek, Devil’s Tooth, Rubber and House Rock to name only a few of the more than 100 rapids.

On the river, you’ll be welcome to be part of a paddle-boat team, helping your guide steer a top-flight whitewater raft through exciting rapids. Perhaps you like to fish? You’ll be amazed how native west-slope cutthroat trout rise to a dry fly on a sunny afternoon. Or, you can jump into an inflatable kayak and experience the rapids up close and personal. Then again, you might just prefer to sit on the raft, enjoy the scenery and learn all about the Middle Fork country from nature and your river guide.

But there’s more than just the adrenaline of running the rapids. There’s the peace and solitude of soaking in a hot spring at the edge of the rushing Middle Fork. Rejuvenating as the touch of a masseuse, you can feel the healing qualities of the hot water, which rises through cracks in fault lines from the earth’s magma layer. We will visit a hot springs almost every day in the first half of your Middle Fork trip. While you’re soaking and relaxing, you might see a curious tan mule deer walk by, or perhaps even a white shaggy mountain goat with super cute newborn kids.

After the first couple of days, the Middle Fork leaves the cooler climate of the headwaters and opens up into a much broader and warmer, pine-studded rocky canyon. Rafts drift quietly through deep pools of gin-clear water ~ home to native cutthroat trout and aquatic life. Guides stop often to visit Native American pictographs, pioneer homesteads and old mining sites. The guides are intimately familiar with all of these hidden jewels. You’ll marvel at their interpretive knowledge to explain the silent stories at these historic places.

Once at camp, hiking opportunities abound along the river. The trail system is well maintained. Runners can take a quick jog along the river corridor before breakfast. But sometimes, it’s rewarding to just follow a game trail up the mountain from camp. Stop, look and listen. The quiet is deafening, peaceful and relaxing. You are in the domain of nature. Listen to the sweet song of birds, the chatter of squirrels, the piercing call of a red-tailed hawk. Paddling is great, but a whole new world awaits those who take a walk.

The Middle Fork enters the Impassable Canyon. Granite mountains jut thousands of feet from the Middle Fork into the cobalt blue Idaho sky. We’ll stop for a hike to Veil Falls, a weeping waterfall positioned above a giant alcove in the canyon wall. You can stand underneath the falls and get baptized by the pure water, watching the drops cascade in slow-motion all around you. Pearls of wisdom courtesy of the Middle Fork. It’s a special place.

We’ll also stop underneath Waterfall Creek and imagine how far the water has dropped from the high mountain lakes in the Bighorn Crags. We’ll camp on huge sandy beaches beneath sheer rocky canyon walls and soak in the views of the Impassible Canyon while you wonder why the Middle Fork can’t go on forever.

As we near the end of our Idaho rafting journey, having dropped 3,000 feet in elevation and gained so many wonderful memories, it’s hard not to envy the Native Americans and pioneers who spent their whole lives in the vast wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

At the river take-out at Cache Bar, it’s lunch and time to say our goodbyes, followed with a 1.5 hour backcountry drive to the western village of Salmon, Idaho, arriving at approximately 3PM. Should you choose to take the ground transportation back to Sun Valley, plan on arriving at approximately 7PM.

While ground transportation is included in your river trip, many of our guests choose to fly chartered aircraft back to Sun Valley, eliminating a four-hour drive. This one-hour flight will give you a great perspective of the huge wilderness you just floated through. You’ll fly over a seemingly endless sea of mountain peaks. Should you choose to fly, you can plan on arriving in Sun Valley/Boise at approximately 4PM. Flight cost is $245.00 per person.

Charter flights are available throughout the Northwest. Please give us a call to assist in your extended vacation needs.

We’re so glad you decided to visit the Middle Fork with Far & Away Adventures!