# Selway- how low is too low?



## sarahkonamojo (May 20, 2004)

We are launching the 10th. We have been told that .8 is the cutoff. 27 years of river running in the west and never a Selway trip. So willing to go lowww.
A little rain would be nice.

Sarah


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## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

Same 7/10 trip. We're planning on packing light and expecting to get out and push through some areas. Same as Sarah, still worth it. 

You can call Ben at the Fenn Ranger station for more Beta. Other sources are the outfitters who run the Selway, Soar and ARTA.


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

Launching the 27th 

But we have access to small cats and IKs if the bottom drops out


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## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Philip. I was at one time also looking at the Alpacka packrafts. Have a great trip. 

Jon


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

Hope ya'll have a good trip as well. A July 10th launch should have noticeably more flow than our launch on the 27th. I just can't wait to see the river again. Last time was a July 4th launch and it was stunning. Ham and Ladle should be "interesting" so late in the month.

Excited as its a trip with some of the boating partners I have known the longest. Plus, my father is meeting me at the take out and we are fly fishing for a week on our way back to Utah.

Anybody able to find the Paradise flow data? For a few years they had the call daily call logs as a PDF on the USFS website but I can't find it now.

Phillip


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## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

Updated sporadically. 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd548867.pdf


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

duct tape said:


> Updated sporadically.
> 
> https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd548867.pdf


Thanks! Been looking for that for a week or so with no luck.

Phillip


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## DoubleShadow (May 2, 2013)

Wow I'm surprised at how low it is already. I worked that river for many years commercially. Expect it to drop about a foot a week. By the third week in July it will be really low. I've taken a 16' raft at .8'. The top was pretty bad, we got stuck a lot but knew where we would get stuck and the best places to get stuck. Down in moose juice the rapids become very technical and entirely different as many horn wrap hazards appear. Some of the ones you don't normally worry about can become really challenging. The top end is just damn hard in general but similar to top end of the MFS in low water. In my opinion the most challenging at low low flows are Ladle, No Slouch, Meeker, Osprey and Wolf Creek. Ladle and Wolf are the worst, there is just no where to go that doesn't put you in a very sketchy spot. Good luck and be prepared to z drag a wrapped raft.


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## screamingeagle (Jun 14, 2011)

I've spent a fair amount of time on that river in low water. The top becomes really tough below 1'. I remember almost wrapping about 100 yards down from the paradise ramp at the first little rapid. Washer woman you have to go right not the normal left. Pin pong is a drag for sure. Double's correct on the moose juice, the rapids become very challenging and technical with multiple wrap hazards, the exception is Wapoots which is a big wild ride with a large hole if you go over the ledge on the left. The far left line in Ladle is pretty scary but doable. Puzzle is a huge ledge drop that you have to swing all the way around and pull off the lip back over to the right. Osprey really terrified me. I've seen many broken oars and near flips in that rapid. But at low flows I think Wolf Creek takes the cake. If I had to do it again I would just go light in an IK and not put myself through the torture fest of dragging a raft.


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## briantcinmt (Mar 13, 2015)

Thank you all for the input.
As of Wednesday, Paradise is at 1.5ft.
Dragging a 15' boat could be a "torture fest" as screamingeagle put it.
Looking at other possible options.


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

I think you will be happy with that decision. When I launched on July 4th a few years ago the gauge at Paradise was around 1 foot and I was more than content to have a ten footer. There were some boats around twelve feet but they clearly had harder passage.

Stunning river. Screamingeagle clearly knows the place better than I. Now that I am three weeks out the excitement is starting to finally mature into a little nervousness like it always does for real Class IV multiday rivers. 

If I could just run laps on Goat Creek I think I would be content in life.


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## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

DoubleShadow said:


> Wow I'm surprised at how low it is already. I worked that river for many years commercially. Expect it to drop about a foot a week. By the third week in July it will be really low. I've taken a 16' raft at .8'. The top was pretty bad, we got stuck a lot but knew where we would get stuck and the best places to get stuck. Down in moose juice the rapids become very technical and entirely different as many horn wrap hazards appear. Some of the ones you don't normally worry about can become really challenging. The top end is just damn hard in general but similar to top end of the MFS in low water. In my opinion the most challenging at low low flows are Ladle, No Slouch, Meeker, Osprey and Wolf Creek. Ladle and Wolf are the worst, there is just no where to go that doesn't put you in a very sketchy spot. Good luck and be prepared to z drag a wrapped raft.


Just got off today. 1.2 at put in, 1.1 today. Would do it again in a heartbeat. The prettiest mountain river I've ever run. 

DS info above pretty much spot on. This is not an easy run at low water. Wolf Creek looked bad, but went fine with a pull to the left of a triangular rock unfortunately dead center just below the top drop. Some missed the move and went right bringing into play some serious rock badness down below. The bottom drop right lateral turned several sideways with some good highside action in the hole. Consequences of screwing up there are pretty high. Cannot imagine getting a large raft down at 0.8 without body and/or rubber carnage. 

We had a wrapped raft for a while in Osprey which was a tough "3". Looking back there's a lot of vertical drop in that rapid. 

Left run at Ladle looked doable (from the right scout) but there was a drop halfway down with a partially covered rock we could not completely see, but could see the left pin channel just below if you missed the pull/push to the right. Might have been clearer from a left scout. We went right. 

Then there were other "4's" which weren't much at low levels including Double Drop and Niagra. I recall Wapoots as easy but maybe by then I was just used to it or was (briefly) on my game. Puzzle Creek was fun and easy IF you made the move. Can't even remember Miranda Jane. 

First two days above Moose Ck weren't too bad. Several briefly stuck rafts and most had to get out and push in the right run at Ping Pong. Surprisingly the left run went better for a few. Goat Ck was our favorite rapid.


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