River Rafting on the River of No Return

Click on the pictures to see them bigger, then close the window to return to this page. This was one of the best vacations EVER! It was totally relaxing and at the same time, the adrenaline was flowing! The thought of fitting all 5 of us plus luggage into the small plane was daunting . So we decided to drink to it! Of course there were no problems. Once we arrived in Salmon, we checked into the hotel and got our dry bags from Jeff Hennessy from Cascade Adventures. Now we're ready to go to dinner to meet everyone, and leave the packing for tomorrow! In the morning we took a bus to the "Put Out", the end of the road, going beyond Lewis & Clark's route - hence the name River of No Return. We met the rest of the crew, the two Nikkis, Christine, Eric and Dane, plus Lucy and Sabe. The priority was to gear up and paddle to a lunch spot, which we did. Jeff left ahead in his giant raft to set up camp , so he missed the wonderful lunch that the rest of the crew set up for us. But we're glad he went ahead! The camp was ready for us tired city folks , and the crew proceeded to cook us some appetizers and dinner. All that was left for us to do was drink wine and relax... And judging by the wine list, we're happy campers!
The next morning was full of surprises. No hangovers! The crew started our day just right with breakfast. Steve wanted to try some fishing before we got going, and Nick decided to take a swim before getting in gear! The water was surprisingly warm and inviting. Nikki had to pump some of the rafts to make sure they could hold all the food and wine - Marjoe had brought some extra, just a bit of Mouton. After we decided who was going to "duckie", we launched and had some awesome river time! We stopped at a natural hot spring to sooth our aching muscles, and trudged on.

Again we stopped at a beautiful spot for lunch, and again we stuffed ourselves - the crew should be ashamed of serving us so much good food! Later, the campsite they chose was again increadible. As was the food.
The next day was full of challenging rapids. Nick fell and so did Steve and Adriana. Fortunately, nothing serious. As Nick said, when you don't die, it's fun! The lunch spot was a historical stop. Jim Moore was a settler who saw an opportunity in selling wares - and plenty of other things - to the miners looking for gold in the region. After lunch the waters were calm enough to help with the digestion of another great lunch, so we decided to spend some energy and had a water fight. No winners, we all got soaked. This next campsite was beautiful, with a little more space for everyone to run around. The crew was hard at work preparing the food, but were never too tired to give us a smile.
To the kids delight , desert was S'mores. The next day was "light paddling" and we stopped at the fort of Buckskin Billy, a man born after his time. He came to Idaho during the '30s, and decided no government was going to take his land away. Interesting character. We had a light lunch and arrived at the Lodge where we spent the night. But not before the crew cooked us a leg of lamb with all the trimmings! What a beautiful spot! The next day, we took the speed boat up river to catch the bus at where we "Put Out". Good thing Alex provided us with "All Day Suckers". They're delicious!

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