Nate O Taylor

Food, Fishing, and Outdoor Adventures

The Season of Three Permits: Trip 2, The Middle Fork

July 9, 2021 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

First off. Holy shit. This was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had, and I’m not sure it’s even close. If you are reading this and get to go on this trip then no matter what is happening in your life, go. It is just incredible.

I’m not going to write a lot about this trip, rather I’m going to post the pics as they tell most of the story. Words can’t really describe this place. The answers to the obvious questions are as follows:

What was the flow? 2ft @ Boundary
When did you launch? June 28
How many people?18
How was the weather? It was 100 everyday
What are the best campsites?Honestly, they’re all good
What would you do different? Uh, get new coolers, a permit, and run the main

Launch Stuff

Gotta get the boats in the water. The launch here is as intimidating as it is elegant. You slide that boat down the ramp and you know that you have 100 miles of whitewater in front of you to get back. Sleep well!

Maps of the Middle Fork
  • Boundary Creek Ramp
  • Launching Boats
  • We Ready?
  • Dropping Down the Hill
  • The June 28 Group…

Food

Delish. Not pictured were some other pretty extravagant offerings by the team. Most all our meals were based around using the wok or “discada.” While heavy, it cut down on all the other kitchen stuff and was really efficient.

  • Egg Sandwiches
  • Taco Tuesday
  • Tacos
  • Pulled Pork Sandwiches
  • Chicken & Veggie Stir Fry
  • Pancake…Egg…Bacon
  • Salmon Crepes
  • Carne Asada
  • Breakfast Tacos
  • Drinks
  • Carne Asada & Shrimp

Campsites

Fear not. Your campsites are not a worry. You will not only be happy, but impressed.

  • View from Above Wilson
  • Happy Hour Wilson Creek
  • Busy Boat Slips
  • Flying B
  • Wilson Creek
  • Relaxation
  • Hors d’oeuvres
  • Pungo Creek
  • Last Camp at Otter Bar
  • Whitey Cox Departure
  • 4th of July Party
  • Night at Sheep Creek
  • Downstream Sheep Creek
  • Ghosts of Whitie Cox

Sights & Springs

Hot springs everyday, scenery in every direction.

  • Scout Hot Springs
  • Upstream Look at Loon
  • Early Morning Soak View
  • View from Veil
  • Veil Falls
  • Mid-Day Hot Springs
  • Bath with a View
  • Pictographs
  • 104 Degrees
  • Moose
  • Hot Shower
  • Loon
  • Whitie Cox
  • Hidden Beneath an Overhang
  • Hike to a Hot Springs

Water & Other Awesomeness

Incredible amount of whitewater over 100 miles. You’ll be doing things the entire time, albeit at 2ft it was more technical than anything. There is a lifetime of exploration here, you can’t even begin to conquer all the hiking and scenery this place has to offer.

  • Scouting Pistol Rapid
    Pistol
  • Jumping into river on Middle Fork
    Laying Out
  • Exit of Pistol Rapid
    Bottom of Pistol
  • Tappan Falls Rapid
    Tappan Falls
  • Sign at Flying B Ranch
    The Flying B
  • Rapids below Flying B Ranch
    Working Towards Wilson Creek
  • Rapid Middle Fork Salmon
    Rapids Below Otter Bar
  • Upstream view from Main Salmon to Middle Fork
    End of the Middle Fork
  • Cramer Creek rapid Main Salmon
    Flip!
  • Take out at Cache Bar for Middle Fork
    Cache Bar

Filed Under: Summer Tagged With: Discada, Food, Hot Springs, Idaho, Middle Fork, Multi Day, Rafting

River of Sorrows

June 18, 2019 by n.taylor 2 Comments

El Rio de Nuestra Señora de Dolores, River of Our Lady of Sorrows, now commonly referred to simply as “The Dolores”.

 Map of Dolores River
Dolores River

The history of this river is as extensive and depressing as the name(s) would suggest. Explored in 1765 it has been the lifeblood of humans for thousands of years in the area. Today we grow lots of alfalfa and divert nearly the entire river basin for that purpose. With the construction of McPhee Dam in the late 1980’s the river and it’s history were written yet again. Today, when water managers allow, you can put in at Bradfield Bridge. An area that seems dilapidated, only because of the lack of use in the last twenty or so years.

Originally one of the west’s great multi-day trips, it is now a trip that occurs only during particularly wet weather cycles in the basin. You may only have the opportunity to run this river once or twice in a decade. If you do get the opportunity it will be on incredibly short notice (sometimes just days or a week) as the reservoir must legally fill, and then “spill” the excess inflows in order to make boatable flows.

2019 was not supposed to be one of those years. Particularly wet spring conditions dramatically altered the runoff projections. Water managers scrambled to adjust their calculations as unprecedented weather patterns took hold in Southern Colorado. For those not living here, we had two feet of snow fall on Rabbit Ear’s Pass on the summer solstice…

Evening on the Dolores

While we put on the river with flows approaching 1200 CFS, typically the flows range from 40-75 CFS. Fishing and recreation are all but a memory below McPhee, as such the facilities reflect the sterility of the water itself.

Launch at Bradfield

Campsites were hard to find, all of them having seen infrequent use since the late 1980’s. Most of them were overgrown and unrecognizable.

Looking for Camp
Trees Weren’t Small
Kitchen
Finished Lasagna

The most famous stretch of this river is Snaggletooth Rapid. When the river would run free, Snaggletooth was a name that would give even the most experienced boaters pause. It was a barometer, a test of ones skill. At one point the Dolores was the most heavily used whitewater run in the state of Colorado. Check out this footage from Rig to Flip. Amazing stuff.

High Water- Snaggletooth 1983- Dolores River

Think you've run all the Big #WhiteWater out West? Not Likely… Rare footage of the Dolores raging 1983. This footage was all shot alongside Snaggletooth Rapid by an unknown camera outfit who made the edit your seeing here. It survived to us by the hands of long time boaters who love the Dolores and knew it well before the dam. The footage is nearly a full 30 minutes, over 26 different runs of the highest water ever recorded on film of Snaggletooth Rapid. You won't find this anywhere else. #rigtoflipColorado American Whitewater Patagonia Dolores River Boating Advocates Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office History Colorado NRS Astral Osprey Packs Bureau of Reclamation Bureau of Land Management – Colorado Bill Dvorak Jack's Plastic Welding Patagonia Telluride Upper Colorado River Private Boaters Assoc. Colorado Whitewater Association Stitches 'N Stuff Down River Equipment

Posted by Rig To Flip on Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Scouting Snaggle

The opportunity was one that I would not let pass. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I will go again when the chance occurs. Rafting down the Dolores was being surrounded by immense beauty, and at the same time, immense sadness. I hope that someday my children will be able to run this river, with far greater frequency that we are afforded today.

  • Desert Varnish
  • Scenery
  • Lower Dolores
  • Evenings
  • Lasagna
  • Chicken & Peanut Sauce

Filed Under: Summer Tagged With: Camping, Dolores, Floating, Overnight

South Fork Pt. 2: We Went Fishing

July 22, 2018 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

We awoke at our borrowed cabin space and prepared a quick breakfast using some of the supplies on hand. We patiently waited to see if our pack train would arrive, and it seemed as though all hope had been lost when we saw them in the distance trudging forward. While they’re lack of timeliness and propensity to elicit anxiety consumed us all night, the pure elation of their arrival quickly diminished all of our previous contention.

Better Late than Never

Morning Breakfast

We bandaged up the feet of those who were exhibiting the wounds of the day before and prepared for the short 5 mile jaunt to the waters edge. One among us needed no such bandages, and his secret was his old golf shoes.

Elite Footwear

The trip from this point forward wasn’t about hiking, it was about fishing, and for the next few days we did a lot of fishing.

Parachute Adams


Magic Hour


Beer Break


Lots of These


Fish Food


Fishing From the Gear Boat


Westslope Cutt


Obligatory Hero Shot

Captain Whitey


More Magic Hour


Fumble

The evenings were filled with food and drink, watching the sun disappear behind the mountains. A place without a road for 60 miles in any direction gives you an odd sense of freedom, and we cherished every moment of it. We would eventually stop at the Big Prairie Ranger Station and begin the second half of our journey. The small stream we were floating down would soon turn into a real river, and with it came people that we had come to forget the first few days. The upper section of the trip will occupy a special place in the minds of everyone, and will be the reason for a return. Our final camp on the upper half other river was poetic, a large beach on a dramatic bend of the river. The night was filled with laughter and alcohol, the only surviving memory a grainy photograph of all of us together. Just as it should be.

Home for the Night

A Night to Remember

Filed Under: Summer Tagged With: Camping, Floating, Montana, South Fork Flathead, The Bob, Wilderness

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