The summer of 2001 was hectic...a new job, new town, new home.  Still, we left Curt's parents with unpacked boxes, uninstalled flooring and bewildered pets in Riggins  to spend eight days finding tranquility in Idaho's Frank Church wilderness with some of our Twin Falls' church family.  We embarked on a white water rafting trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, also known as the River of No Return.  This adventure was one of the most thrilling things we have done. 

The Middle Fork of the Salmon is located deep in Idaho wilderness and flows about 100 miles through the largest protected wilderness area in the continental United States.  Because of good management to minimize human impact, this area boasts the most pristine white water river in the nation as well as bountiful wildlife and the rugged beauty of the mountainous scenery. 

Most trips begin at the Boundary Creek launch site, several hours from Stanley, Idaho, but due to low water levels, our trip launched from Indian Creek (24 miles below Boundary Creek). We were flown from Stanley with our rafts and gear to the alternate launch site, four trips in all.  We unloaded the planes and packed our gear from the dusty landing strip, down a huge staircase, and over to the water's edge. After a lunch/orientation/greeting by forest service ranger and a prayer for safety, we headed out for our adventure.  We spent the first afternoon battling rocks as we struggled to reach the designated camp spot by nightfall.  The rest of the trip went much more smoothly as the Middle Fork was fed by smaller streams, which increased the water level. After storms, we would see evidence of a blowout as the normally pristine water became muddy. 

Our leaders had put a great deal of thought and effort into making meals for the 16 people.  We also had to use a scat bucket...'nuf said...
Some of the most memorable parts of the trip included eating spaghetti boiled in chlorinated water (that's funny...it LOOKED like cooking oil!), the well planned meals (learned a lot about what kinds of food to take backpacking and on future raft trips..see outdoor recreation),  taking showers in natural hot springs, traveling with Jennica--a tiny but feisty Jack Russell terrier, spending a delightful Sabbath at Culver Creek campground, pausing at Hospital Bar hot springs to assist in medical care for a professional guide (one of our guides is an ER physician), getting high centered, plastered to rocks, and Stef slipping under a raft as we struggled to break free from rocks, learning about sweep boats the hard way, water fights, watching an osprey carrying off the fisherman's next bite, a  bear cub eating chokecherries by the shore, Rocky Mountain sheep, Mike relating one-square TP scat bucket procedures, Veil Cave, Tukudeka Shoshoni Indians pictographs, Earl Parrot's prospecting cabin (located about 1000 vertical feet above the river--accessed by ladders),  the rain at Tappen Island and drying out at Little Pine, going down Tappen Falls, PlumCrazy,  flipping a raft, hitting house rock...and finally arriving at Corn Creek with nothing worse than sunburned toes!  It was Curt & Stef's EXCELLENT Adventure with friends and an opportunity to restore our souls from the stress that grad school, a new job, and a new residence had burdened us with!