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

Pulled Pork Sliders

June 24, 2017 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

Sliders may be a time honored tradition for a variety of occasions but they don’t have to be hard and they certainly should be memorable, after all we’re all out to impress people. These are sure to blow your mind, make some and you will understand. Things you need:

Kings Hawaiian Rolls

Ranch Dressing Packet

Stick o’Butter

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Colby Jack or other cheese slices quartered

Pulled Pork/Brisket/Burger… etc

Oven at 350

 

Prepare your meat, preferably something more adventurous than grocery store ground round but whatever you want to do I suppose.

 

Rub Applied

For me its pork, rub applied and ready to cook.

May the Cook Begin

This usually takes over 12 hours to cook the way I want it to so plan accordingly. I put this on the night before with the idea that we would be eating by 3pm the next day.

Done

So over 12 hours later and this thing is done, temp brought up close to 200 and it will be foiled and set aside to rest for a few hours so that we can do the easy part.

The Frosting

So take that stick o’butter, a 1/4 cup or so of the parmesan, and then a tablespoon or two of the ranch dressing seasoning. Set this aside for the frosting later. When we need it just nuke it for a minute and get a brush out to drizzle it on, but we will get back to that.

Specialization of Labor

Now don’t do anything stupid here, just take the entire package of rolls and cut the top off of all of them at once. Lay them out on a baking sheet like you see above. Now take those slices of cheese and cut them into quarters, lay one each on the open faced rolls for now. If you want to get really creative you can add whatever else you want around this time.

The Meat on This Roll

Now take your meat choice and spread it over your genius creation. It is beginning to take form and create anxiety in the room.

Top with Frosting

Now reapply the top of your sliders that we previously cut off. Take your frosting and nuke that for a minute and brush on the super secret flavor boosting frosting material. You will get some clumpy parmesan cheese but it doesn’t matter, it will all bake in during the final step.

Take those sliders and put them in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes so everything just congeals together into one bite sized portion of melted diabetic coma. Thats it, you’re now done and have become everyones best friend and the champion of the party. Relish in your glory.

Filed Under: Summer Tagged With: BBQ, Food, Sliders

Smokin’ Bacon

February 24, 2014 by n.taylor 1 Comment

If you have never tried to make your own bacon, you should do that immediately. An 8 lb slab of pork belly, some curing/kosher salts and your choice of spices gets you something that looks like this.

Curing the Pork Belly

Curing the Pork Belly

Leave it in your fridge for a week, make sure you use some pink salt in addition to your regular salt, otherwise you’ll get some nasty bacteria and it will make you sick/kill you. Remove from fridge and wash off your spices, then throw it on your cold smoker for 4-5 hours or until it gets to about 150 degrees internal. It will look something like this.

Fully Smoked Bacon

Fully Smoked Bacon

You will never go back to packaged bacon ever again.

Details (It’s sort of an inexact science for me):

-3Tbs Kosher Salt
-3Tbs Cracked Pepper
-Curing Salts as needed based on weight
-3 Bay Leaves Crushed
-Honey/Bourbon Depending on your taste, 2-3 Tbs of your choice.

Keep in mind you can substitute the pepper and bay leaves for honey and brown sugar if you want a really hearty “maple” bacon flavor.

Filed Under: Winter Tagged With: BBQ, Food, Pork, Smoking

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