Logjam on Salmon strands about 200 rafters

BOISE – A logjam on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River has temporarily blocked about 200 rafters from floating through a remote stretch of wilderness, outfitters say.

The Middle Fork, a 100-mile stretch of water in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, is considered one of the most thrilling whitewater floats in the country.

The central Idaho waterway is accessible only to those with permits.

U.S. Forest Service spokesmen and outfitters familiar with the Middle Fork told KTVB-TV in Boise that they have never seen a blockage this large.

Heavy rain caused a washout Monday that pushed “a bunch of logs, from 50 to 60 logs” into the river, said Jackie Nefzger with Mackay Wilderness River Trips. “It’s completely blocked the Middle Fork.”

Her company has a group of 24 rafters in the area, as well as six guides, she said Tuesday.

It could take as long as three days to clear the debris, Forest Service spokesmen told the station.

“My river ranger has never seen anything like it,” Sheri Hughes, Middle Fork river manager, told the Idaho Statesman.

Three explosives technicians were on the scene, determining if they could blast their way through the logs.

Officials from the Salmon-Challis National Forest’s Middle Fork Ranger District did not immediately respond to Associated Press calls for additional comment late Tuesday.

Bob Wilkins, co-owner of Salmon Air Taxi, a Salmon, Idaho, airplane service that flies commercial and private rafters to the isolated river, told the AP on Tuesday he was extremely busy removing rafters from the remote canyon.

The company has also shuttled Forest Service officials to the site. There’s a landing strip about a mile from the logjam, he said.

The air taxi ferried 23 rafters from the wilderness on Monday in a nine-seat plane.

“There’s no problem,” Wilkins said. “They are saying everyone is stranded, but they are plenty safe. These river outfitter trips are very prepared. It’s just a matter of patience and people wanting to get on with their trips.”

“We can stay camped until it’s cleared up,” Nefzger told the Idaho Statesman.

Logs as long as 30 feet were piling up at the river blockage, said Bruce Reichert, a rafter stranded on the river. Reichert, the host of public television’s Outdoor Idaho, radioed in to his office Monday from a backcountry ranch.

Some river outfitters were paying to bring their clients out via a rugged horse trail, but Sheila Rowland, of Warren River Expeditions in the central Idaho town of Carmen, said that is a difficult task.

Rafts weigh about 150 pounds each and the typical trip carries heavy gear like life jackets, food and equipment. Plus, the trails through the protected area are rustic, she said. Her company did not have any rafters stuck in the area.

The logjam was near the point where raft trips begin on the Middle Fork, meaning the rafters likely have enough food for five or six more days, Rowland told the AP on Tuesday.

In the past when logjams have closed rivers, Forest Service helicopters have dropped provisions, she said.

For now, the best option is likely to wait and see how quickly the backup can be cleared, Rowland said.

“You know how dramatic the elevation change is any time you have a river cutting though a canyon,” she said. “There are ways they can get packed out, but it’s difficult.”