River season.

My first trip to the Lochsa is survived by one jpg image and epic memories of rafting big splashy whitewater. Lochsa, after all, does translate to rough water in Nez Perce - and is considered one of the world’s best rivers for continuous whitewater runs. The Lochsa is fed by the melting snowpack of the Bitterroot range and bumped up against the Selway-Biterroot Wilderness of Idaho (the 3rd largest contiguous swath of wilderness in the lower 48). 

There’s numerous reasons to love this river. It plays a vital role in supporting the Salmon populations as they travel upriver to spawn, it is included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act - protecting it from dams. It is the life source to the beautiful and intact old growth forest ecosystem that towers above the river, trees 2-3 times larger than what you see in SW Montana. The Lochsa is home to not only gnarly whitewater for rafts and kayaks but also a river-wide surf wave called pipeline. There’s no cell phone service - my favorite! Technically considered the PNW, this region checks all the boxes for rainy, humid & foggy, making for captivating inversions and really really cold days on the river. As miserable as it may sound I genuinely enjoy the rain and fog after a day on the river while sitting at camp in head to toe fleece making a hot meal. A little piece to the whole that makes the mountain west such a cool place. 

Next week we head back for our annual trip, that I missed out on last year, in hopes of the high flows we need to see the river swell with big water. Where kayakers come to push themselves and rafters to participate in the absolute carnage that occurs on these rapids, and for me another chance to capture the essence of this river and the characters that flock to it year after year.