We hit the road for Lowell, ID Friday morning. Since we were heading into Idaho already, and making good time, we took a short detour to stop at NRS http://www.nrsweb.com/ to check out their deals and swap out my boots for a fresh pair.
I managed to get my NRS Boots replaced with no hassle and couldn't pass up a great deal on a new dry top and pants. Combine those new items with the new PFD I recently picked up and I looked like freshly dressed rookie at the put in - at least my helmet has some good scratches on it. 
On our way over Eric called the resort" to make sure we got the big cabin with three beds. Eric, Matthew and I are friendly....but not that friendly enough to share beds! We arrived at the "resort" http://www.threeriversresort.com/ before dark so we slowed down the check the bridge gauge as we passed over - it read 6.5 feet and rising - Perfect! 
We grabbed the key to our cabin, parked the truck and went right to the restaurant/bar to meet up with everybody. After almost 8 hours on the road it was nice to grab some dinner and listen to the stories of past runs. 
Saturday morning we drove up to the White Pine put in. The plan was to run from White Pine to Knife Edge 32 miles down river. The river
quickly earned our respect after 3 people ended up in the water near
the bottom of Triple Hole (names withheld...you know who you are!).
After gathering swimmers and re-flipping a couple boats we got back on the river. Throughout the day a few of our group flipped and a few of us swam - Gary's 3 swims earned him the "Hat Trick" and a dollar from Rick - though this is to be expected on a river of this magnitude and at this water level - that's why we drove 8 hours! Though many of us got wet I myself managed to stay in my boat until Lochsa Falls. The Falls were a completely different story for me.
Here is a link to a video of me and some of the other guys at Lochsa Falls last Saturday & Sunday. Look for the tan catboat (at approx3:30-4:00 in) on the first day I'm wearing a red jacket and yellow
vest & coming in right behind Randy, who in his tan cat made the noble act of giving himself to the river in front of me. Sunday (7:34-8:00) I'm wearing a blue & yellow dry suit. Do remember these waves are between 10-14 feet tall and almost half the boats didn't make it through here clean - I on the other hand stand at 0 for 2 at the falls! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvTVjBwA4I After coming through the falls I was picked up by Rick in next the rapid
appropriately named "Picking Up The Pieces" Once we made it the remainder of the way to the Knife Edge take-out we decided to run the all the way back to the "resort".
So anybody whodid not have to retrieve a vehicle stayed on the river for another 10 miles. This lower stretch is rated as a Class III so after the upper sections this was a relatively lazy float - well that is until we came around a bend and found ourselves quickly coming into a rapid known as "Ian's Hole". We hurried to get situated but didn't really have a chance so for the most part we looked like a bunch of clowns bobbling our way through with beverages in our laps and no helmets on our heads - especially Kevin who ran out of time and stuffed his sweaty baseball cap in his mouth at the last second.
Bill didn't fair so well the biggest wave in there sent him into a quick barrel roll into the river. Good news was the water flattened out so the recovery was pretty painless. The funny part of being surprised by Ian's Hole is the next time we heard the sound of whitewater we all jumped to attention threw on our helmets and successfully navigated the next set of waves which were smaller than the waves in the pool at the "resort" - at least we were prepared this time! After 42 miles on the river we made it to camp, grabbed some drinks and reported directly to the hot tub.Sunday morning the sky had clouded up a bit and the river had risen.
Yesterday at 6.5 the river was huge...at 8+ feet the river was
noticeably more huge - looks like I'm wearing a dry suit today!
Aftersome discussion with our group and the guys from OWA
http://www.oregonwhitewater.org/ about the conditions boaters started dropping like flies. By the time we had a plan in place the two groups were running together today with only 9 boats (7 of us and Steve and Dean from OWA). Once we were on the river the water was noticeably bigger it was also quite a bit pushier than yesterday so there everything took a bit more effort and concentration. Once again we all did great until we got to Lochsa Falls...then things got a bit interesting. Lochsa Falls with the higher level became a bigger pile of waves and since I was the lead boat it got the best of me right off
the bat (as you could see in the second part of the video).
I gotdumped out and launched my boat into the sky (I could still hear the crowd cheering while I was under water so I knew it was good!). I fought me way back into the seat of my boat and was immediately fired back into the river by another wave I never saw coming - nothing like swimming the same rapid twice! I pulled myself back into my seat...again! - and quickly got to the side of the river. That's when I realized Dean & Bill had both flipped - Kevin hit Bill's unmanned boat, did a Spiderman like move and somehow managed to come out upright. Dean was still with his boat and was able to right it himself. Bill on the other hand was struck in the face by his left oar
and drew a little blood for the roadside spectators to see.
Afterassessing that he would likely need a few stitches above his eye we pulled his boat up to the road, loaded it on a trailer and Matthew
drove him back to camp to get fixed up. The rest of run was a good fun finish.
We took out at Knife Edge and once back at camp we again grabbed some drinks and reported directly to the hot tub. That was followed by viewing session of the days raw video in the bar/restaurant. After dinner we sat around the campfire (Bill with ice on his face) until going to bed to rest for the long drive back to Seattle in the morning.
Another cool video about the Lochsa:
http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?collection=epic - Click "Full Episode: Rafting in Idaho" to view video
Stats:
Lochsa - Class IV
Miles Logged: 42 & 23
Flow Data: 13400cfs & 17400cfs
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