Lower Salmon to Snake River

Beware. There are a billion pictures to follow. I could post a billion more. How do you choose which ones to post? We had two photographers with us and I took video. This was a well documented trip.

Every summer we head to a river to spend a week with family and friends. This year we tried somewhere none of us had been before. We put on the Salmon below Riggins and floated until the Salmon joined the Snake. It is really cool to put it all together in our minds - we have been on many sections of both of those rivers. Then to see them converge is amazing - talk about A LOT of water. Darren and I agreed that in watching it flow after the confluence reminded us of how the Colorado moved. It gave both of us the creeps, you know that heeby jeeby feeling of just knowing HOW MUCH POWER is there. Awe and respect. That is how I feel about rivers.

Justin about to jump. These logs washed up in high water a few years ago and made the world's best diving board.

River Girl.

We brought the stand up board at the last minute. So glad we did, such a blast!

This is totally her element. Such a river rat.

I seem to be concentrating a little hard. They all convinced me to run the upcoming rapid on it, (I dropped to my knees as soon as I saw the waves) promising it looked like "nothing." HA! I fell off, recovered, fell off again and lost the board! There were some big waves and I was so relieved to see Morgan paddling toward me in a kayak to rescue me! I was the calmest I have been to this point while swimming a rapid, but I was definitely out of breath by the time he got to me.

I didn't feel too bad about my inability to stay on the board when one of our rafts flipped in this rapid right after me! Formerly "Lorna's lulu" we renamed this rapid "Ellis' lulu". Raft, kayak, standup board, paddles, 5 people, all recovered. An umbrella was broken, but the chocolate covered cinnamon bears Jenny promised me if I would run the rapid on the stand up board, remained intact and dry through the flip!

Brady and Riley horsing around.

My guys and a river staple - squeeze cheese.

Paige flying.

Justin flying.

Group run and jump shot. Hours of fun. Do kids ever tire of sand and water? Do adults for that matter?

Brady flying.

Darren going snorkeling.

Justin lived on the stand up board.

Kayakers.

We are quite production going down the river- 27 of us. That's me taking a little break on the "lie down" board.

I just like all the boats lined up down the river in this picture. You might have to enlarge it to see it.

Our boat is always the party boat. It might have something to do with candy.

A cool jumping spot.

What it looked like from above.

Paige and Gillian getting ready....

My daughter can fly.

I am very impressed with her form.

At the confluence

I divided the kids into groups and gave them each a bag of props. They had 10 min. to come up with an informercial for why you should float the Lower Salmon River. We laughed so hard!

The funniest part was in the hour heading up to this everyone kept asking me if I had seen certain items , the strainer, a snorkeling bag, someone's lifejacket, booties, the lemon pepper, etc. - it was always something I had taken and put in the prop bag! Sheesh! Does everyone keep track of their stuff that well!!!!

The stage. Also a great promo for Frontierplay.com! Dry Boxes anyone?

One of our two jet boats that took us UP the Snake to Pittsburgh landing.

Darren and Pete enjoying the ride. Just by default, there only ended up being 7 of us on the smaller, faster jet boat! NO KIDS! Our driver blasted reggae music and cruised through the rapids. It was so fun!

I love being with my family on the river. I have posted in the past about our trips and it is always the same. Back to Basics. I love the feeling on not knowing the time. Living by the light and darkness. Food, shelter, safety. What else matters? Everything is real. Finding shelter is a real concern on the river. What color the walls of my shelter at home are is not so important. REAL stuff. Does that make sense to anyone else. Only having to worry about REAL stuff is what I like about the river.

Every year I try to bring it home with me. Still need a few more river trips, I think. But I'm getting closer.