An 80 Mile Rafting Adventure in the Northern Rockies | Salmon River, Idaho

Rafting 70+ rapids over 80 miles on the Salmon River in Idaho. Kate, Max, and I raft the highly sought after Salmon River for 6 days in this adventure. One of my favorite trips so far.
Thumbnail photo was taken by: @alx_mgr_video
Our raft is a RMR Phat Cat. With massive tubes, 30+ D rings, this thing is a shredder gear boat perfect for R2 or a small oar rig. Its at home in class V creeks and plowing through big wave trains on higher volume rivers. We highly recommend this raft.
LINK TO BUY THE RMR PHAT CAT RAFT: amzn.to/3bR3yQ7
-SOME OF OUR FAVORITE OUTDOOR GEAR-
Jordan's PFD - amzn.to/3sETalj
Kate's PFD - amzn.to/3e6jGQi
Newer Version of Our Tent: amzn.to/3gF1BqF
Kate's Backpacking Shoes: amzn.to/2Oac5lS
Jordan's Backpacking Shoes: amzn.to/2t8Min6
Jordan's Day Pack: amzn.to/2RcsZkI
Kate's bivy tent: amzn.to/2Tbj2H3
Newer version of Jordan's bivy tent: amzn.to/35PTzWp
One of our favorite tents: amzn.to/309Sl72
Jordan's Favorite jacket: amzn.to/3a1b6Ox
-OUR CAMERA GEAR-
Panasonic Lumix G9 - amzn.to/34keX5j
Leica 12-60 mm Lens - amzn.to/38JgTra
Canon 6D mkii - amzn.to/2to5OMl
Canon 24-105 - amzn.to/34nQbkz
Rode Video Micro Microphone - amzn.to/2ThPTdc
Dolica Tripod - amzn.to/2rNlqbu
H1 Zoom Audio Recorder- amzn.to/2RbkaaK
-SOME OF OUR OTHER AWESOME VIDEOS-
Tour of our Scamp Camper that we live in
• Scamp 16' DELUXE Model...
Packrafting Lake Powell
• An Epic Packrafting Jo...
Grand Canyons Best Backpacking Trip
• Grand Canyon's BEST Ba...
Life as a Dirtbag Raft Guide
• My Life as a Dirtbag W...
Links are amazon affiliate links.
"File:Salmon river basin map.png" by Shannon1 is licensed with CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[@timgunderson3571]

Really nice video man. I have been guiding on the Main Salmon and Middle Fork for 32 years. I began my guiding and boating career on the Main in 1990. Met my wife on a Main Salmon trip in 1994. We got married at China Bar Lodge (on river left about a mile or two below Whiplash Rapid) in 1995. Still happily married too! This river has a special place in my heart since it is where I began and where I fell in love. You did justice to the Main Salmon and I'd take your lines anytime. Love the music too. Many boating videos are ruined by loud, overpowering music. Yours was perfect. The part where you talk about your appreciation for the Main touched me. I like it when people "get" the entire package of a river trip. The stories that river could tell.

[@wilsonkey4138]

Went rafting on that river a little over 20 years ago. We had to be evacuated because a forrest fire started while we were rafting it. It started with a little smoke in the sky on the left side of the river headed downstream. About 2 or 3 hours after we noticed the smoke, the entire sky had vanished behind smoke. You could see the orange glow of the fire reflecting off the smoke just over the hill sides. When we finally got to a place where could pull off, the fire was sucking air out of the river canyon/valley and pushing us back up river. It was insane. Hell of and experience but insane. The fire end up making it all the way to the east fork river near our place in Sula. Fortunately, the fire gave out about 3 or 4 miles from our place.

[@JasonMurdoch-uo7om]

I thought the salmon was suppose to be gnarly. This looks chill.

[@gabrielclark6170]

Cool video! I’ve done that stretch 7 times and loved every second of it. I also have an RMR.

[@gordondahle7844]

I was born in Salmon. I sure miss being there. In 1956 the year I was born my dad built his first jet boat. I spent my childhood going up and down the Salmon in my dad’s jet boats. They had big V-8 engines with no mufflers. They were loud, fast, and fun! He got 2 U.S. Patents on his pump designs and I have lots of fond memories. I still have his last 24 foot long jet boat. When I retire I plan on getting it running again. Rafting the river is fun, but I prefer a jet boat that has a few hundred horsepower!🤗

[@n8dawgjs]

Excellent work on the video. I have watched countless rafting videos over the years and this one got me more stoked to go rafting than any others.

[@kevinhill242]

this was an awesome video! Looked like a blast!!!

[@steve6631]

Great video..thanks for posting!

[@RebeccaBaltich]

Very nicely done video. Enjoyed a lot.

[@westernsoutherner1]

Great video man we ran it in 2021 too- it was super smokey then rained like hell on the 2nd to last day with a bluebird last day. I just got off the Owyhee last weekend. My buddy has a RMR phatcat and he put a frame on it and took it on a Middle Fork trip with us last year. Main Salmon is one of my favorites Im getting a hankering to get out there late summer.

[@glorifyhymn]

Nice Video. Well Done!

[@michaelcahn]

Enjoyed your story telling style. Very nice video! Thanks for bringing us along 🙏

[@steezjenkins]

This is one of the best rafting trips on the tube! Thanks for putting it together. Awesome start and was bummed when it when it finished. Cheers!

[@sacjusticeforyou]

Beautifully done!!!

[@NickedOff]

Beautiful countryside. Thanks for taking us along! I started laughing out loud when you slammed into Kate and started going backwards on the first Class IV XD Fun times

[@Steveleanr]

Awesome! We are doing this trip next month!! Should be great!!

[@christinegentrynelson]

Awesome video!! Had fun watching, I just went on my first ever rafting trip on the Deschutes here in Oregon a few days ago.

[@JustinDaining]

Good stuff, buds. Loved watching this after my trip earlier this year. Lucky to know this place.

[@davidcrane8932]

Excellent video of what looked like a great trip!

[@delriv5238]

Great video. Thanks for taking the time to put it together. W

[@chadstevens3861]

excellent work on your video. I really enjoyed watching it, I have had the chance to be on that water and it is truly amazing.

[@leahlinden184]

Great video!

[@atsukiokabe9788]

This is awesome and so inspiring!! Wish we had rivers as long and huge without dams as this one in Japan Thanks for sharing the masterpiece!

[@ulical]

Can't thank you enough for making this video. I'm doing this exact same trip starting next week and your video allayed some of the fears I had about rafting the Salmon River. I'm doing it on a small raft and hope we have as much fun as you all did.

[@user-fw6vu3kz6l]

Well done!and well. Planned

[@margins5793]

just off that run, crystal clear skies, green grass and spring flowers ...Delicious

[@chriskayakq-ster7264]

Beautiful scenery on your river trip! I own a Tom Love Shredder from 2004 your raft in all its orange looks very similar except mine is black. Looks like fun was had by all sure is pretty canyons!

[@sovereignfalcon1119]

Great video & calling them all out, Brother!

[@TheSteepness]

awesome otter sighting!!

[@josh-mc3bi]

i gave you the 100th thumbs up. damn shame you don't have 100,000 subs. yall are for real. my dude, you have to be reading off something: here in GA i paddle rivers with 10 rapids and I still can't remember the names and lines. you remembering that the forest service dynamited something during the 50s or whatever is wild to me.

[@brianarthur1252]

excellent video. For the record, I have never figured out why anybody runs the upper part of Elkhorn anywhere but river left. That rock has swollowed a lot of boats.

[@laurenjohnson2577]

Was that Bob Hawkin's on the rock freeing his raft....he is from Fairbanks , Alaska. ? ?

[@1carve2]

Great video. I went on my first river trip ever in '89 out here. That trip changed the arc of my life. Spring run at 24K cfs and HOT! Slept on the sand for a week with no tent. Twas glorious. I ended up getting into guiding to spend more time on the river. Now you gotta check out the Middle Fork.

[@middleofwherever7157]

24k would be awesome! Might need a bigger boat for that lol. The middle fork is definitely on our list. This year we’re planning on the San Juan and the Snake River.

[@1carve2]

Wave trains for days at that flow. Hells Canyon on the Snake? Lots of wave trains out there too.

[@TacomaJack09]

Great video guys! What CFS was the river running??

[@dannywildmon3712]

Fun video to watch! I went backpacking in the Frank Church Wilderness a few years back. It was a beautiful place. Take my advice and you won't regret it when you get older. You don't have to finish all the liquor by the end of the trip. Also, did you get to camp at the hot springs?

[@RiverBorne]

Thanks for saving a Streamtech Steelhead!

[@morganpennings3561]

Looked like it was a great trip! Those 2s are so inconsistent but your lines were stellar by the end, WELL DONE!!

[@patrickknight2888]

Great video bro, excellent narrative,, what month and level was it?? My cuzz coming out this summer,, we doing it!!

[@xmilchellexdelarosa3042]

I Subscribe To Your Channel Because Of Your Adventure

[@alienkid3882]

Great vid. What flow did you run it at?

[@journeymanMT]

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing that! Getting ready to go mid June, and your selection does a great job of showing scenery in addition to all the rapids! Good to know that people like you will help out if things go awry, too! Label above says March 1 2021, but judging from the smoke I'm guessing late July or August?

[@middleofwherever7157]

Thank you! This trip was the end of September 2020. Good luck with your trip!

[@kurtisschaaf369]

Nice video, I'd love to know what the water level was during your filming, the character of those rapids changes so much based on the amount of water. Thanks

[@bibilopez849]

Why did you guys stop making videos… I’ve watched them all lol 😊

[@middleofwherever7157]

Some day in the near future we will be posting again!

[@big1dog23]

S Fk kicks ass.

[@dylanmeyer4303]

Awesome video. What section of the river is this? Did you have to put on the lottery for it?

[@sandyradsek2058]

Great video, What time of year was this float and what was the CFS?

[@cerridwen336]

We took my son on that river when he was 7yrs old in 2003. He loved it. It was an amazing trip. He’s been lucky to be able to do that two more times with his dad since then. Thanks for the great video. I’ve almost forgot what it was like. We went on to do the Grand Canyon in 2007. That was a one time trip for me! HUGE!

[@middleofwherever7157]

I’ve done so much backpacking in the Grand Canyon but have never rafted it. That’s the river trip we want to do more than any other.

[@shanewinget9125]

Hey sweet video. Was this filmed in September? Sorry if it already says in the comments if it is. My girlfriend and I were looking to R2 it in the fall

[@jshappart]

Elkhorn is only a class IV at low water if you are stumbling drunk rowing a stream tech fishing rig apparently :)

[@adamvolwiler7336]

Loads of cash for a fancy boat doesn't seem to buy you the necessary skills.

[@frederickgoodman773]

Nice video. Time of year? Flow?

[@mikehoran9484]

Love the green RMR! That a 13 foot? 12?

[@dennypistoll507]

What time of year did you run this. In the summer or before permit season? Denny

[@caseturner4322]

Sweet! Well done. How can I find the soundtrack? Spotify playlist?

[@middleofwherever7157]

Thanks! All of the music we used is from epidemicsound.com

[@debbiejohnson425]

How did you get permits for both MF and Main? Great video thanks

[@1carve2]

This was all on the Main Salmon. The view at the wooden bench is looking upstream at the Middle Fork Salmon coming in.

[@middleofwherever7157]

We didn’t do the middle. Just the main. There was a group on the river that we met that got insanely lucky with their permits and were able to combine the two. There was a guy on mountainbuzz that had a permit for the main and a permit for the middle for the following week. He apparently kayaked the main, took a bush plane from Riggins to the put in on the Middle, then finished at Corn Creek boat ramp, where he parked his car. That would be an awesome way to do it so you don’t have to mess with a shuttle.

[@debbiejohnson425]

@@middleofwherever7157 wow, that's great. Both the MF and the Main are great. Thanks for sharing the video

[@schreadersautorepairllc.6202]

Hi, I have been through all of the Montana rivers looking for a new run. Can you give me some Intel? Best times to go, Sun, versus rain. Thank you

[@ginarainey4138]

What is the firebowl?

[@robertblaine5012]

How is the music in your videos so consistently good?

[@mts982]

why no vids in a year????

[@RandomRetallingsofRiggins]

0:10 is that disappointment creek

[@Fuckstupidlibtards]

Who the fuck brings PBR, willingly?