1 miles of hiking • 0' elevation gain • 1 night
Overnighter on the banks of the Salmon River. The campground was closed, so found a dispersed site on the bank about 1/2 mile from the end of the road @ Salmon Butte Trailhead. Cloudy day and evening, but pleasant around the fire. It began to rain about midnight while we were comfortable in our tent. It continued raining as we snoozed into the late morning. Awoke around 9:15 am and found we had actually camped on an island. A channel of water raged on both sides of us now, where earlier it had been a couple of stagnant ponds, it had become a raging torrent 10 feet across. The river on the other side was swollen to almost twice it's size the night before. We quickly donned our rain gear and packed up, thinking of how we were gonna cross the swollen creek behind our camp.
We threw our gear to the other side and negotiated a big log that thankfully had been lodged in place for some time. Then it was up the steep bank to our waiting vehicle (and the sleeping dog) up above. Great night, but it's a good thing we didn't sleep any longer!
Mileage Mike
December 2, 2013
Jeremiah - I know the location where you were camped and am glad you both got out safely! I've never seen that small waterway look like more than a small stream and can't imagine waking up to a large creek blocking the way back. There has always been many logs in that area, and it's a good thing! It appears that the heavy Salmon River waterflow is what drives the logs into that area as the last time I was there a log dam appeared to be blocking the stream! Getting out safely makes for a great story, and um....lesson learned!:) Take care!