Salmon, Idaho

It was hard to leave wonderful Stanley and those fun-loving Laughlins, but we were excited to move on and see what Salmon was like.  We took the Salmon River Scenic Byway from Stanley, through Challis to Salmon.  This route follows the Salmon River through canyons the whole way from the Stanley Basin and the Sawtooth Range, paralleling the Salmon River the entire way.  The river drops 15 feet a mile, its rapids looking more and more daunting.  There are ghost towns and hot springs along the way.  We stopped at an overlook where the chinook and sockeye salmon migrate to their spawning beds.  They are now endangered because of dams on both the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  What amazes us always is that the river appears to be going uphill because we are going north.  As you go further north, the river valley opens to high desert hills, eroded by ash and lava that spread across the region 50 million years ago.  Just before you get to Salmon, you cross the Lemhi Valley and the Beaverhead Mountains.

We spent a night in our first BLM campground (they are quite common up here-primitive, but decent)- Cottonwood Campground.  It was right on the river, but the only spot left was not on the river (we are spoiled now).  We had happy hour sitting by the river and a nice dinner but moved out first thing in the morning and arrived in Salmon by noon.

Salmon is an 1860s mining town of about 3,000 people.  Like Stanley, it has a fair share of outfitters. It does have a decent supermarket, several restaurants and a few funky stores.  It has a lousy laundromat where we spent a few hours, reluctantly!!  AND, we didn't lose any clothes this time.
We looked at a few campsites along the way and settled on a site right on the river just a few miles north of town, so it was easy to go in and out for various errands.  We needed to get that leak fixed on the kayak, needed a laundry done-(amazing what we accumulate in a few weeks), groceries, birthday presents 😇,  transmission fluid for the car, gas, etc.

THE VIEWS FROM OUR CAMPSITE

My birthday gifts from Jim were lovely.

The adventure I gave myself was to ride "The River of No Return" from our campground to Tower Rock.  We got the kayak fixed (they think it was a manufacturing problem along the seam) and we scouted where we would get out (a place we could recognize from the water-see below), and hired the guy who fixed our boat (Silas) to meet us at the campground, where I dropped off Jim and the boat and all the accessories, and then drive me to Tower Rock, where we left the car for our return (no easy matter).  I wasn't as nervous as I should have been, already having ridden with Jack and Linda in Stanley for 2 miles.  This was about 4 miles and, after all, what could happen!  HA!  We only have these three pictures:  before, at the beginning and at the end:

The put-in

The take out

We got in where we had been swimming but immediately took off (faster than either of us expected), right into the current and hit a rock, which sent us backward down the river for what seemed longer than the seconds it was.  The boat was filled with water and I was frantically trying to empty it with a small plastic brie container that I had brought along for fresh water for Boo while Jim paddled alone.  Well, it was never going to do the trick and I couldn't bail and paddle at the same time, plus I wasn't able to see anything-too busy!  My job, in the front, was to call out when I saw a rock in our way-I think I was calling out almost continuously those first several miles, "Rock on the right, Rock on the left, There's one right in front of us."  Of course, Jim didn't hear me half the time as he can't keep his hearing aids in when we are on the water.  We tried to pull over to a rocky area, where it was shallow.  Problem was-the rocks were covered with algae and too hard to hold onto, so, again, we were going backward, slowly, down the rocks and river.  Jim got out and manhandled us onto the rocks, where we all got out, tipped the boat over and got back in, only to discover that now, we were high centered on the rocks.  Jim had to get out to push us over the rocks.  Meanwhile, we had a few moments of wonderful birdwatching:  a bald eagle and two ospreys fishing in front of us.  That was it for relaxing moments!  We soon hit a whirlpool which kept us stuck for awhile and then sent us down backward again and again we filled with water.  We turned toward the west side of the river where we tried to hold onto the bank of grasses and Jim lost his paddle.  He ran over slippery stones to catch his paddle just in the nick of time and lost his hat in the process. After dumping the boat again, we took off to rescue his beloved Stetson.  Luckily, it was under water, stuck in some fallen trees on the shore.  We saw it as we drove by and then had to back up against the river to get close enough to grab it.  Not easy, but -Success!  A few deep breaths and we were off for the final couple of miles, which required some maneuvering to get into the flow of the river and survive a few rapids while going forward.  Soon we saw Tower Rock ahead and, amazingly, were able to pull over and land on the boat launch.  It was quite an experience-thrilling to Jim and not one I would likely do again.  We were going to go out to dinner but instead, went back to Maxine for a few margaritas and an early to bed experience to cap off the day.

This is Tower Rock-easy to spot ahead.

We spent the morning in the Lemhi Historical Museum and a wonderful exhibit next door, both which gave us a real sense of the history of the area.  It had a wonderful collection of Lemhi Shoshone artifacts as well as exhibits about the miners, ranchers, lumbermen and strong women who inhabited this area.  We had a long talk with a man who grew up in the area and knew many of the famous adventurers, explorers and brave people who made this town what it is today.  His exhibits were housed next door in the old library building.  "A River of History:  Connecting Past, Present, and Future" featured river-related artifacts and exhibits.  I just loved the following pictures:

Check out those waistlines!

This lady was our guide's grandmother.

How those before us did the river

Merriweather Lewis

That afternoon we visited the Sacajawea Cultural Center outside of town.  It is beautifully done, with walking paths outside, wonderful exhibits of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the history of Sacajawea.  We passed her gravesite later in our trip as we drove through the Wind River Indian Reservation.  Sacajawea was born into the Lemhi Shoshone tribe near Salmon and was kidnapped at age 12 by the Hidatsas and lived with them in North Dakota.  At age 13, she was married to Charbonneau, a trapper who lived with the Hidatsas.  When Lewis and Clark passed through this area in 1804, they hired Charbonneau and his wife to help translate, as well as guide them through Shoshone territory. Charbonneau and Sacajawea accompanied the Expedition to the Pacific Coast and  lived for a short time back with the Hidatsas and later moved to St. Louis, where Clark helped educate their son, Jean Baptiste.  Sacajawea died young, in 1812.

Another day, we drove up to North Fork, close to the Montana border and followed the Salmon west to where the road ended and the REAL river runners navigate The River of No Return.  Here, the river traverses some of the most rugged and isolated stretches in North America.

Shoup store