Anybody want to join me to recreate this trip in a few weeks?
See http://www.americanwhitewater.org/conte ... _year_1994_
Jarbidge
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- oopsiflipped
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- oopsiflipped
- CBoats Addict
- Posts: 954
- Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:32 am
I did the Jarbridge / Bruneau last year and it was sick, we did a 4 day self support trip. If your just doing the lower Bruneau and putting in at Indian Hot Springs, 2.5 days should be plenty. We didn't run into any major obstacles, just some wood in the river, although there is a lot less in the Bruneau section than up above in the Jarbridge. We didn't have to portage any of the wood in the river, but you definitely have to keep your eyes open. The river is really fun because it isn't your normal pool and drop style run, the current pretty much flows straight through the entire run, with very, very few large eddies, you barely even have to paddle to make your mileage. Even on the last day after 5 mile rapid, the current keeps up a pretty good pace the entire way (though we had some heinous wind that day). Most of the rapids on the run are really fun wave trains that are straight forward, but there were a few large holes scattered around at the flow level we had. Even the "hard" rapids that are described in the guides are good to go.
For campsites it seems like the BLM guidebook ( http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/ ... iredoc.pdf ) is an okay reference, but there are more campsites than just the ones listed in the book (and some of the ones listed are not all that great). The first night we camped on river left pretty close to Indian Hot Springs around mile 33 or 34, it was a really cool camp right in the middle of where the canyon gets really narrow and vertical. For our second night on the Bruneau part we camped around mile 54 / 55 on river left, this was our best campsite of the entire trip, it was a nice flat grassy beach with a sheer cliff right behind it. I remember one other campsite that looked nice, it's right before mile 39 at Cave Draw. It was a decent looking campsite, and Cave Draw is a really amazing hike. We hiked up about a mile and a half to two miles and found some of the most spectacular caves and arches that I've seen. It is really worth it to do this hike, and if you do make sure to hike up under the really obvious arch and look into the crack on the right, it will blow you away. Just watch out for the nettles on the hike up.
Overall it is an awesome trip, with some of the best scenery I've seen on a river trip.
For campsites it seems like the BLM guidebook ( http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/ ... iredoc.pdf ) is an okay reference, but there are more campsites than just the ones listed in the book (and some of the ones listed are not all that great). The first night we camped on river left pretty close to Indian Hot Springs around mile 33 or 34, it was a really cool camp right in the middle of where the canyon gets really narrow and vertical. For our second night on the Bruneau part we camped around mile 54 / 55 on river left, this was our best campsite of the entire trip, it was a nice flat grassy beach with a sheer cliff right behind it. I remember one other campsite that looked nice, it's right before mile 39 at Cave Draw. It was a decent looking campsite, and Cave Draw is a really amazing hike. We hiked up about a mile and a half to two miles and found some of the most spectacular caves and arches that I've seen. It is really worth it to do this hike, and if you do make sure to hike up under the really obvious arch and look into the crack on the right, it will blow you away. Just watch out for the nettles on the hike up.
Overall it is an awesome trip, with some of the best scenery I've seen on a river trip.