Idaho: The Canyon and some sobering concerns with our environment.

Yesterday was exciting on the Canyon run and today we repeated that.  We learn about old and current disrespect of rivers
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The Canyon is aptly named. It is has a lot of continuous rapids, with some quiet areas just in case you go for a long float. For me, this is where it is at: good meaty rapids with the canyon scene.

Idaho packrafting

It tested our skills and spills were an outcome for most of us. Yesterday I managed to get through unscathed. Today with a deflating boat my vessel was not quite as easy to stabilise.  We tried to locate the leak but it wasn't until we got back to camp that I discovered it to be in the inflation valve.
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There is a major portage around the 'big' falls. Some say that it has been run by skilled kayakers. Mincemeat for me, but I am guessing someone will do it in a packraft.

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Meggie is a competent kayaker as well, she demonstrated a seal launch on a packraft. It wasn't successful today - there is a lot of friction to overcome where a kayak will slide easily.  Apparently yesterday she landed it without an inversion.

Idaho packrafting
Prior to the Canyon we warmed up on a section of the river called the Staircase run located near the North Fork Payette river .
Idaho packrafting
I tried a demo Kokopelli Recon 2019. It was a great packraft. Being made of a different material (same as commercial rafts) it is much stiffer, but is penalised by its weight (8kg vs 3.5 kg). I plowed through the biggest holes and waves without issue. I can recommend it for this style of white water rafting, even a few of hours of packraft hiking in a day would not be an issue. (you will need to look on the Kokopelli web site for a picture).  I would have liked test other rafts such as the Alpacka Gnarwal but the opportunity didn't arise.
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The staircase gets its name as there some sort of resemblance to a staircase. (Note too that I have a new dry suit made by Kokotat - much lighter and more appropriate for this sport than my other one.)
Idaho packrafting
In the evening we sat down to a nice meal. Fantastic effort by the organisers who are all volunteers. After our meal we are shown some short documentaries. These documentaries made me sad and happy.
  • They exposed  oil exploration in the Arctic Refuge (see also "U.S. vows first oil lease sale in Alaska Arctic refuge this year")
  • A couple - Jenny and Mike Fiebig)  travelled on the Green river and Colorado to Mexico in an open dory. We had a personal talk which is also written up here. What blew me away is what I would say is theft - most of the water from the Colorado is diverted away from Mexico.
    Link “It was incredibly sad to see the river shrink down to a trickle,” said Mike. “[It’s] filled mostly with runoff from agricultural fields. Heartbreaking, where the remaining trickle of the Colorado disappears into the sand. We expected this, but it was still viscerally shocking. ”
  • Some happiness in the foresight early presidents had to stem the thousands of dams planned in order to create wild water national parks. I cannot remember who did what but it's a good read on the internet for example here and here.
  • A fourth talk was on this couple who journeyed through Florida's animal corridor showing how small it is and dangerous a road is to the animals as well as how the so called tropical resorts are far from considerate to nature. A heavily trafficked 8 lane highway is no joy for us let alone a native cat.
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All in all my trip to Idaho was great and I can recommend the meetup to any prospective traveller. I was made welcome, met a great bunch of people and the rivers were fantastic. I pass thanks to the organisers and to all the buddies I paddled with who made the packrafting safe and fun.

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