Had a great weekend over Memorial Day. We had Colin Kemp from Team Jackson show up and paddle the Payette with us. Colin, aside from just being a great guy to be around, is an excellent instructor and really had the boys and I improving with great pointers.
The ‘Main’ was at a great level, Climax was in pretty well, and the Gutter was not bad.
If you ever have the privilege of paddling with Colin and his wife - expect to progress and have a great time! 
Looks like it’s going to get hot this week - oh, yea!
Pete Zimosky - Idaho Statesman : Edition Date: 05/27/07 - It’s mind-boggling to me that many boaters don’t wear life jackets.
Take a look at some recent incidents.
A boat capsized at the mouth of the Columbia River earlier this month and one angler ended up missing. Two others were rescued. None were wearing life jackets while in a boat at the mouth of the Columbia River, one of the most dangerous areas in the Northwest.
We’ve had two drownings on the Snake River this spring as a result of a boating accident. The victims were not wearing life jackets.
A 17-year-old boy drowned while canoeing May 19 on Hayden Lake in North Idaho. He was not wearing a life jacket.
I’ve seen rafters on the Main Payette River this spring not wearing life jackets.
Two canoeists were given tickets for not carrying life jackets as they recovered a suicide victim’s body from the Snake River this spring. The citations were dismissed but the question remains: Where were the life jackets?
The first thing most river runners grab when they are going out on a rescue is their life jackets, even in the frenzy of an emergency.
Not wearing a life jacket in a boat is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute.
About 800 people die each year in boating accidents nationally, and nine out of 10 are not wearing a life jacket.
Last year in Idaho, four out of the five drowning victims involved in boating accidents, were not wearing life jackets.
It seems as though most of the boaters and tubers who float the Boise River through town during the summer are not wearing life jackets.
A lot of boaters on Idaho’s lakes and reservoirs don’t wear life jackets. Oh sure, they are required by law to have them on board for each passenger, but they don’t have to wear them.
Idaho has a youth life jacket law, which requires children 14 and younger riding in boats 19 feet or less in length to wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket.
What about adults? What’s the deal with not wearing one? I don’t understand it. Today’s life jackets are comfortable. Most of them have all sorts of adjustments to make them easy to wear.
Life jackets are made specifically for women and children.
It just doesn’t make any sense, especially when capsizing and falling overboard account for 70 percent of boating fatalities nationally.
You never know when it’s going to happen.
The typical boating accident involves a small, open boat on inland water, during daylight hours when weather and visibility are good, the winds are light, and the water is calm, according to boating-safety Web sites.
You may think you’re a good swimmer and don’t have to wear a life vest, but Idaho’s waters are cold. Cold water saps energy, and that leads to drowning.
Boating-safety experts say that generally, an average-sized person wearing light clothing and a life jacket may survive up to 2: to 3 hours in 50-degree water by remaining still. Life jackets help protect against hypothermia, the lowering of body temperature to dangerous levels, which leaves a victim helpless.
Here’s the 50/50/50 rule: Someone in 50-degree water for 50 minutes has a 50 percent better chance of survival if a life jacket is being worn.
It doesn’t make any sense getting in a boat without one.
Pete Zimosky - Idaho Statesman : Edition Date: 05/27/07 - It’s mind-boggling to me that many boaters don’t wear life jackets.
Take a look at some recent incidents.
A boat capsized at the mouth of the Columbia River earlier this month and one angler ended up missing. Two others were rescued. None were wearing life jackets while in a boat at the mouth of the Columbia River, one of the most dangerous areas in the Northwest.
We’ve had two drownings on the Snake River this spring as a result of a boating accident. The victims were not wearing life jackets.
A 17-year-old boy drowned while canoeing May 19 on Hayden Lake in North Idaho. He was not wearing a life jacket.
I’ve seen rafters on the Main Payette River this spring not wearing life jackets.
Two canoeists were given tickets for not carrying life jackets as they recovered a suicide victim’s body from the Snake River this spring. The citations were dismissed but the question remains: Where were the life jackets?
The first thing most river runners grab when they are going out on a rescue is their life jackets, even in the frenzy of an emergency.
Not wearing a life jacket in a boat is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute.
About 800 people die each year in boating accidents nationally, and nine out of 10 are not wearing a life jacket.
Last year in Idaho, four out of the five drowning victims involved in boating accidents, were not wearing life jackets.
It seems as though most of the boaters and tubers who float the Boise River through town during the summer are not wearing life jackets.
A lot of boaters on Idaho’s lakes and reservoirs don’t wear life jackets. Oh sure, they are required by law to have them on board for each passenger, but they don’t have to wear them.
Idaho has a youth life jacket law, which requires children 14 and younger riding in boats 19 feet or less in length to wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket.
What about adults? What’s the deal with not wearing one? I don’t understand it. Today’s life jackets are comfortable. Most of them have all sorts of adjustments to make them easy to wear.
Life jackets are made specifically for women and children.
It just doesn’t make any sense, especially when capsizing and falling overboard account for 70 percent of boating fatalities nationally.
You never know when it’s going to happen.
The typical boating accident involves a small, open boat on inland water, during daylight hours when weather and visibility are good, the winds are light, and the water is calm, according to boating-safety Web sites.
You may think you’re a good swimmer and don’t have to wear a life vest, but Idaho’s waters are cold. Cold water saps energy, and that leads to drowning.
Boating-safety experts say that generally, an average-sized person wearing light clothing and a life jacket may survive up to 2: to 3 hours in 50-degree water by remaining still. Life jackets help protect against hypothermia, the lowering of body temperature to dangerous levels, which leaves a victim helpless.
Here’s the 50/50/50 rule: Someone in 50-degree water for 50 minutes has a 50 percent better chance of survival if a life jacket is being worn.
It doesn’t make any sense getting in a boat without one.
Temps 80 - 85 Friday through Monday and water above 4K on the Main Climax is looking pretty good - if the main wave isn’t doing it for you try catching one or two back in the wavetrain. The water is too low for the Bladder Wave, but the Gutter is at a good level.
For a list of guages check HERE
Be safe and have a great (and long) weekend!
Recreation update - May 22 By Zimo - Idaho Statesman - Edition Date: 05/22/07
Recreation reports continue to change and are being updated for the Memorial Day weekend.
If you’re a whitewater boater interested in going up north to the Lochsa and Selway rivers, here is some news from the U.S. Forest Service.
All campgrounds along the Selway River corridor will be open for the Memorial Day weekend. O’Hara Campground, 7 miles east of Lowell along Selway River Road, is now open. Reservations can be made for O’Hara Campground, the Johnson Bar group site, and the Meadow Creek Cabin. O’Hara Campground is suitable for RVs.
Boyd and Selway Falls campgrounds are also open and ready for visitors.
If you’re interested in camping along the Lochsa River-U.S. 12 corridor, check out Powell, Wendover, Whitehouse and Wilderness Gateway campgrounds.
Most high elevation are still blocked by snow up north. If you’re thinking of driving the famed Magruder Road, across the middle of Idaho from Elk City to Darby, Mont., forget it. The road is open for a few miles beginning at the Red River Ranger Station but closed after that.
The road from Dixie to Mackay Bar is still closed.
Recreation update - May 22 By Zimo - Idaho Statesman - Edition Date: 05/22/07
Recreation reports continue to change and are being updated for the Memorial Day weekend.
If you’re a whitewater boater interested in going up north to the Lochsa and Selway rivers, here is some news from the U.S. Forest Service.
All campgrounds along the Selway River corridor will be open for the Memorial Day weekend. O’Hara Campground, 7 miles east of Lowell along Selway River Road, is now open. Reservations can be made for O’Hara Campground, the Johnson Bar group site, and the Meadow Creek Cabin. O’Hara Campground is suitable for RVs.
Boyd and Selway Falls campgrounds are also open and ready for visitors.
If you’re interested in camping along the Lochsa River-U.S. 12 corridor, check out Powell, Wendover, Whitehouse and Wilderness Gateway campgrounds.
Most high elevation are still blocked by snow up north. If you’re thinking of driving the famed Magruder Road, across the middle of Idaho from Elk City to Darby, Mont., forget it. The road is open for a few miles beginning at the Red River Ranger Station but closed after that.
The road from Dixie to Mackay Bar is still closed.
Idaho Statesman - Edition Date: 05/16/07 by Zimo
Nature took care of the logjam at Pistol Creek on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River over the weekend.
High water took it out and early spring river runners are pretty happy about it. Hazards do remain.
The strainer above Pistol Creek at Lake Creek is still giving boaters heartburn. Some snags in the river downstream are serious considerations, too.
The logjam at Pistol Creek appeared at the same place as last summer. The U.S. Forest Service blasted last summer’s logjam because several hundred rafters were stranded.
Good boating.
Idaho Statesman - Edition Date: 05/16/07 by Zimo
Nature took care of the logjam at Pistol Creek on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River over the weekend.
High water took it out and early spring river runners are pretty happy about it. Hazards do remain.
The strainer above Pistol Creek at Lake Creek is still giving boaters heartburn. Some snags in the river downstream are serious considerations, too.
The logjam at Pistol Creek appeared at the same place as last summer. The U.S. Forest Service blasted last summer’s logjam because several hundred rafters were stranded.
Good boating.
All the snow is long gone - whether that’s good or bad depends on who you are and what you’re doing. It’s a strange year in the mountains. - Idaho Statesman Edition Date: 05/20/07 by Zimo
The snow, what little we had, has burned off early. It’s a lot different than it was in the normal snow years when many high-country recreation areas were inaccessible at this time of year.
I remember Memorial Day weekends when the Warren Wagon Road over Secesh Summit, north of McCall, had to be plowed to open access to the backcountry town of Warren.
The snow-recording site for Secesh Summit at 6,520 feet is registering no snow this week.
There were Memorial Day weekends when snow remained in Upper Payette Lake Campground, north of McCall, and it was doubtful the campground would be open in time for the holiday.
Recreation report
We’re going to put out our annual recreation outlook for the holiday weekend in Thursday’s Idaho Outdoors Magazine. We’ll have information on trails, campgrounds, rivers and reservoirs in this drought year.
It’s going to be a surprise. There were years when the campgrounds around Lost Valley Reservoir near New Meadows were still soggy on the first weekend of the summer season. Not this year.
There were times after good snow winters that hatchery personnel with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game didn’t know if they would get into Sagehen Reservoir, northwest of Smiths Ferry, with a big tanker truck to stock it with trout for Memorial Day. Snowbanks were on the boat ramp where they needed to back down to the water.
There were years where cross-country skiers would make tele turns on Snowbank Mountain near Cascade in late May. It doesn’t look like there’s enough snow for that this year.
It’s a strange year in the mountains, and it’s more surprising than you think.
I remember some years pulling into a campground for the Memorial Day weekend and having to camp next to a snowdrift. Not this year.
I was browsing online at the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s SNOTEL sites around Idaho and some still have snow, but it’s sporadic.
Deadwood Summit at 6,860 feet has 28 inches of snow. That area did get a pretty good dumping of snow.
The Trinity Mountain site at 7,770 feet has 28 inches. To the east near Sun Valley, the Dollarhide Summit site at 8,420 feet recorded 16 inches of snow.
But Galena Summit at 8,780 feet has only a trace of snow in certain areas, according to its SNOTEL site.
I’m surprised the SNOTEL site at Banner Summit, the summit between Lowman and Stanley along Idaho 21, is registering no snow. It’s at 7,040 feet.
The Smiley mountain site in the Pioneer Mountains at 9,520 feet only records 9 inches of snow.
Here’s another interesting tidbit. The Idaho Water Supply Outlook Report released by the Natural Resources Conservation Service earlier this month showed that 30 automated snow-measuring stations in Idaho were melted out by May 1. That means there was no snow at those mountain locations.
Normally, only three sites are melted out by that date.
The unseasonably warm and dry weather from April on burned the snow off early.
In parts of the Salmon River basin the snowpack was 55 percent of average, less than half of last year and seventh lowest since 1963
Water experts took a helicopter flight over the Boise and Payette river basins May 1 to do a snowline survey. The snowline was at 7,600 feet in elevation. Normally it would be around 6,000 feet on that date.
A month ahead
That puts us one month ahead on the snowmelt. That also puts us one month ahead in the recreation season. Imagine backpacking in places in June where you normally couldn’t get into until July.
I was canoeing on the Middle Fork of the Boise River last weekend. The flow was around 3,000 cubic feet per second. It was ideal. In a normal year, the river might be swollen with runoff and too dangerous to run.
If you talk to some anglers in the McCall area, they are thinking the ice will come off some alpine lakes in time for Memorial Day weekend. That is unusual in normal or colder years.
Some of the lower mountain lakes, including Boulder Lake around McCall, could be accessible for fishing. You never know with the warm weather we’ve had.
It’s a strange year in the mountains.
All the snow is long gone - whether that’s good or bad depends on who you are and what you’re doing. It’s a strange year in the mountains. - Idaho Statesman Edition Date: 05/20/07 by Zimo
The snow, what little we had, has burned off early. It’s a lot different than it was in the normal snow years when many high-country recreation areas were inaccessible at this time of year.
I remember Memorial Day weekends when the Warren Wagon Road over Secesh Summit, north of McCall, had to be plowed to open access to the backcountry town of Warren.
The snow-recording site for Secesh Summit at 6,520 feet is registering no snow this week.
There were Memorial Day weekends when snow remained in Upper Payette Lake Campground, north of McCall, and it was doubtful the campground would be open in time for the holiday.
Recreation report
We’re going to put out our annual recreation outlook for the holiday weekend in Thursday’s Idaho Outdoors Magazine. We’ll have information on trails, campgrounds, rivers and reservoirs in this drought year.
It’s going to be a surprise. There were years when the campgrounds around Lost Valley Reservoir near New Meadows were still soggy on the first weekend of the summer season. Not this year.
There were times after good snow winters that hatchery personnel with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game didn’t know if they would get into Sagehen Reservoir, northwest of Smiths Ferry, with a big tanker truck to stock it with trout for Memorial Day. Snowbanks were on the boat ramp where they needed to back down to the water.
There were years where cross-country skiers would make tele turns on Snowbank Mountain near Cascade in late May. It doesn’t look like there’s enough snow for that this year.
It’s a strange year in the mountains, and it’s more surprising than you think.
I remember some years pulling into a campground for the Memorial Day weekend and having to camp next to a snowdrift. Not this year.
I was browsing online at the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s SNOTEL sites around Idaho and some still have snow, but it’s sporadic.
Deadwood Summit at 6,860 feet has 28 inches of snow. That area did get a pretty good dumping of snow.
The Trinity Mountain site at 7,770 feet has 28 inches. To the east near Sun Valley, the Dollarhide Summit site at 8,420 feet recorded 16 inches of snow.
But Galena Summit at 8,780 feet has only a trace of snow in certain areas, according to its SNOTEL site.
I’m surprised the SNOTEL site at Banner Summit, the summit between Lowman and Stanley along Idaho 21, is registering no snow. It’s at 7,040 feet.
The Smiley mountain site in the Pioneer Mountains at 9,520 feet only records 9 inches of snow.
Here’s another interesting tidbit. The Idaho Water Supply Outlook Report released by the Natural Resources Conservation Service earlier this month showed that 30 automated snow-measuring stations in Idaho were melted out by May 1. That means there was no snow at those mountain locations.
Normally, only three sites are melted out by that date.
The unseasonably warm and dry weather from April on burned the snow off early.
In parts of the Salmon River basin the snowpack was 55 percent of average, less than half of last year and seventh lowest since 1963
Water experts took a helicopter flight over the Boise and Payette river basins May 1 to do a snowline survey. The snowline was at 7,600 feet in elevation. Normally it would be around 6,000 feet on that date.
A month ahead
That puts us one month ahead on the snowmelt. That also puts us one month ahead in the recreation season. Imagine backpacking in places in June where you normally couldn’t get into until July.
I was canoeing on the Middle Fork of the Boise River last weekend. The flow was around 3,000 cubic feet per second. It was ideal. In a normal year, the river might be swollen with runoff and too dangerous to run.
If you talk to some anglers in the McCall area, they are thinking the ice will come off some alpine lakes in time for Memorial Day weekend. That is unusual in normal or colder years.
Some of the lower mountain lakes, including Boulder Lake around McCall, could be accessible for fishing. You never know with the warm weather we’ve had.
It’s a strange year in the mountains.
