# The Owyhee is on...



## Kilroy (Oct 23, 2011)

3k, if it's steady who's in?


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

Dirt road access is likely entertaining at best right now


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

Holy crow. The weather even looks decent

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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

It rained 0.5 inches in Jordan Valley yesterday.

Look at yesterdays image at Jordan Valley on Trip Check:https://tripcheck.com/Pages/RCMap.asp










If you are looking at going to the upper or middle, good luck with the road. If you are thinking lower Owyhee, Birch Creek Ranch road is usually closed from Dec 1 to Feb 15, so Leslie is your best bet.


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## Kilroy (Oct 23, 2011)

Thx for the info shap. Will be keeping close eye on the wx and river gauge. 

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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)




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## mikesee (Aug 4, 2012)

Bruneau is up too.


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## Kilroy (Oct 23, 2011)

Maybe a bit unpredictable/unsteady at this point eh? 

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## Willie 1.5 (Jul 9, 2013)

I'd be very cautious of the Owyhee at this point, I would imagine lots of ice. In fact I'm not convinced that the gauge readings we're getting aren't affected by ice.
Leslie is your only option for take out on the lower until they open the gate for Birch. I'd double check that the road is open and not snowed in.


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## jmacn (Nov 20, 2010)

Pissing sideways rain on snow in Central Oregon right now. Not the kind of river camping I seek out but thats just me...


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## Kilroy (Oct 23, 2011)

Good thing about that canyon is I've seen doom/gloom on the way there and have seen sweet calmness down in the canyon - on the other hand, like any river it can get super gusty too. 

It may be worth an exploration drive tomorrow to verify a few things being this early in the season. 

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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

I saw on facebook that Leslie is currently closed.


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

Can you post a link to that, or was it the old closure notice from 2015?


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## Learch (Jul 12, 2010)

I saw a FB post somewhere today about a raft retrieval on the "lower Owyhee" this weekend asking for help with it. Damn near 10K now.


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## Kilroy (Oct 23, 2011)

14k now. Unless it's pinned solid, me thinks a raft retrieval is eminent...

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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

I can already say it is heading to be at least the second highest flow since 1998. How far it goes up, I don't know. Its headed to orbit right now:

https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/peak?site_no=13181000&agency_cd=USGS&format=html

Reminds me of when we were on the upper owyhee in 2011 camped out near the Claud Dallas incident area when the river rose 4 to 5 vertical feet over night and all our boats were way out in the river and tie off ropes submerged, had to put on the dry suit to get the boats untied. Except on that trip the river went from about 5000 cfs to 18,000 over night.


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

In the words of Prince Helfrich: "this is the one we been talking about boys, its a real frog strangler!"

I see on the rafter anonymous faebooger page the raft recovery operation is planned for a boat that was left last summer, so maybe it wasn't pinned but just trashed and left up on the bank. Hope they left it high on the bank.


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## mrbaum (Feb 20, 2015)

How highs the water papa? I can only imagine how incredible the middle canyon is at these flows..... pucker factor


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## codycleve (Mar 26, 2012)

shappattack said:


> I see on the rafter anonymous faebooger page the raft recovery operation is planned for a boat that was left last summer, so maybe it wasn't pinned but just trashed and left up on the bank. Hope they left it high on the bank.


 
When we floated it April 22nd last year there was a drift boat not too far below Montgomery that was up on the bank with a big hole punched through the side... At that time there was still coolers fire pans and groovers stacked under the tree next to it.


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

This here is Cable Rapid at around these flows:


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOpB-33lNNY&t=2s


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## Kilroy (Oct 23, 2011)

"Maytag" Great vid shap! 

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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

Well the instantaneous peak was 22,400 cfs, that is the highest flow recorded in the last 10 years and the second highest from 1998 through 2016.


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