# looking for main salmon updates camps, sandbars, YJ's



## mikes (Oct 20, 2006)

Hey everyone, we are headed to the main next week. Group of 15 adults/kids. Looking for some updates if anyone has been down in the last week or two.

1. Any particularly bad or good camp experiences with YJ's?

2. Any non-res sandbars you saw would be helpful. Some times there has been a nice bar below lantz's rapid? Pebble beach? 

3. Any res campsites with good sand bars this year. Lower devils? 

4. Any one laid over at Reed this year? Any other good lay over places you found? 

Thanks for any help. Always appreciated.

peace mike


----------



## Fash (Jul 21, 2010)

Got off the Main a week ago. We were a group of 15 adults in eight rafts. Stayed at Big Squaw (res), Upper Yellow Pine, Rhett Creek, Swimming Hole, and Maxwell (res). Didn't layover anywhere.

YJs were around but (in my opinion) weren't bad anywhere, although there were noticeably more at Maxwell. I don't think anyone in the group was stung the entire trip, though. Just had some occasionally crawling into beverages.

One of the things I like about the Main are the big sandy beach camps, so that was our goal in deciding where to stay. All of the above were large and sandy and had a lot of space for our group. Most didn't have much in the way of shade but we were prepared for that and brought our own. Maxwell has a little bit of shade at the far west end of camp that increases as it gets later. They all had plenty of beach space for boats, with the exception of Upper Yellow Pine which is mostly rocky and vegetated near the water with a couple small sandy spots to park rafts (but is a very nice camp with plenty of shade).


----------



## gringoanthony (Jul 4, 2009)

Kept the YJs out of my mouth:

Amazon.com: Jokari Beverage Deluxe Can Caps 2 Pack Soda pop Lids - KEEPS INSECTS OUT OF your Drink, Colors/Styles May Vary: Can Covers For Soda: Kitchen & Dining


----------



## mikes (Oct 20, 2006)

Thanks Fash.

Appreciate the input. We usually stay at maxwell so we will re-think it. What do think about rhett as a lay-over?

Yes, we like those beaches also. Lookin' for a little beach time. Seems each year as the sand moves around some are larger and some are smaller.

Good to hear about the YJ's.

thanks again
peace mike


----------



## Fash (Jul 21, 2010)

Rhett had a nice beach in a big eddy. Not much in the way of shade. A few of us took a walk in the evening back up river and explored a bit. And someone in our group walked the trail to the west but it became over grown not too far from camp. 


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


----------



## Adventeur (Jun 16, 2014)

ground hog bar was awesome

Don't bother with the camp just after five mile bar on the left that is described as having a small beach with nice campsites in the trees. some of the trees are dead and the winds there lately have been causing dead fall, one very stressful night spent there. you'll know it's this camp by the 4' diameter downed tree downstream of the landing. it's a shit camp. 

hornets are bad, bring a re-usable hornet trap, don't skimp on the quality. 

water temps are freaking amazing. plan to lounge in the water, maybe bring a snorkel!!!


----------



## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

We stayed at Upper Lantz, Hancock, Groundhog, Haynie, Rabbit Ck and California. All nice except strainer right at the parking spot of Haynie plus a tree that fell right next to our kitchen during a storm. Yellow jackets were bad at Corn and Carey Ck, so so at California and not too bad at the others. 

Unlike earlier posters all of our group got stung at least once, me 6 times mainly in kitchen while cooking. Our trip was a while back so all could have changed. July20-26.


----------



## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

Just looked at the campsite list and I'm pretty sure that our experience at Haynie pretty much mirrors the place the previous poster describes.


----------



## crane (Oct 25, 2006)

Boated the main 8/6-8/13. 7 out of 10 of us got stung at least once. The first 20 miles and last 15 miles were the worst at camps and lunches. We tried prevention strategies like covering food washing beer/ soda cans, with no real luck. 

Someone had a spray Benadryl med that seemed to cut post sting duration in half. 

FYI. Large fire in area. Burned to river at Bailey rapid. 


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


----------



## mikes (Oct 20, 2006)

*Thanks!*

Really appreciate all the good info from everyone. It helps a bunch when deciding on camps. 

We are on the road. Looking forward to a great trip. 

I will keep checking if anyone has some layover info.

Peace mike.


----------



## RivRunner (Mar 1, 2009)

Did a 7/27-8/2 trip. Corn creek ramp, Alder, and Motor were all bad for YJ's, lots of stings. Lower Yellow Pine, Reed, Mann, and California virtually none.


----------



## kanoer2 (Mar 5, 2011)

We were a small group, only three boats. Our yellowjacket problem was at the Corn Creek Campground. We used the plastic soda can with wine as a trap, it worked fine.

Another word of warning, watch out for dead trees. One afternoon we had a rather strong upriver wind, and two trees came down directly across the river from our camp.


----------



## MrScamp (Mar 19, 2013)

We got off at Spring Bar on August 10th. Great time. Yellow Jackets at most camps everyone got a sting but not terrible overall. We set up a trap with meat over soapy water I read about here but only caught 3. We really liked laying over at Swimming Hole (even though warned here about heat). Bring shade, swim, cliff jump, ferry over for a nice hike. Loved it.


----------



## Adventeur (Jun 16, 2014)

duct tape said:


> Just looked at the campsite list and I'm pretty sure that our experience at Haynie pretty much mirrors the place the previous poster describes.


hah ha! I think my description matches yours because we were there together  I was the guy in the green play boat


----------



## Wavewrangler (Jun 12, 2013)

Just got off Saturday. YJ not bad at all but had some cooling down rain each day. Camped at Allison with the fires in view on two ridges. Pretty exciting but we had a fire crew at the ranch so felt safe. Plenty of water left and Rhett looked good. 


Sent from my iPad using Mountain Buzz


----------



## duct tape (Aug 25, 2009)

Adventeur said:


> hah ha! I think my description matches yours because we were there together  I was the guy in the green play boat


Hey A.! Glad we missed the fires. I'm ready for another trip.


----------



## tmacc (Sep 6, 2009)

This may be too late for the OP, but we got off on the 21st. Just the two of us. No issue with YJs at any of our camps. We stayed at small or unlisted camps except Phantom and Reed Creek. Both are big camps with slack water on the beach. 
We actually saw burning stumps/trees above Bailey's and it was smoky a few days. That's except the days that we had downpours. 
It was great trip. The second time that we've soloed it with a cat and a IK.
Now, getting to Corn Creek was a bit of an adventure. Coulsen Creek blew out onto the road to Corn Creek and deposited about 3' of debris on the road. A group from Weber State U. was there about an hour ahead of us and piled rocked in the low spots and and though we felt a little guilty for showing up when we did, we put it in 4WD and drove on thru. Props to them.


----------



## mikes (Oct 20, 2006)

*Thanks for all the input.*

We had a great trip. thanks for all the input.  Here are some notes from our trip.

Camps: big squaw, sandy hole (lay over. can hike to hot springs along river, then float back to camp and good swimming), paine, rabbit, maxwell.

YJ's: none. I think the cool weather and rain the week before did something because there was far less than even usual.

Rapids: We had a raft rip a floor at black canyon hugging the left side of the right run. Other rafts running right side stayed more center and hugged the laterals off the two holes on that side and had no problems. Luckily we planned on laying in at sandy hole. Made for a good project day on layover.

Water temps were cooler also this year i think because of the rains a some of the creeks that flashed that week. 

Another great trip on the main!

peace mike


----------



## tteton (May 16, 2014)

*Awesome!*



mikes said:


> We had a great trip. thanks for all the input.  Here are some notes from our trip.
> 
> Camps: big squaw, sandy hole (lay over. can hike to hot springs along river, then float back to camp and good swimming), paine, rabbit, maxwell.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the update! Putting on with a LARGE wedding party 9/8. For anyone reading this who is also putting on right after the permit season ends all I got to say is....SORRY FOR PARTY ROCKIN!
LMFAO - Sorry For Party Rocking - YouTube


----------



## Snakerivergirl (Sep 1, 2014)

Oh boy. We have a group of 22 for a deep meditation and yoga camp also launching on 9/8. We should all get along great.


Sent from my iPad using Mountain Buzz


----------



## tteton (May 16, 2014)

*Sorry for party rockin!*



Snakerivergirl said:


> Oh boy. We have a group of 22 for a deep meditation and yoga camp also launching on 9/8. We should all get along great.


Always better to know than be surprised eh? How many days are you guys on the rio for? We are seven days. See ya at corn creek.


----------



## tmacc (Sep 6, 2009)

We try to talk to other trips and get an idea of where they plan on staying. Since it was just two of us this past trip, it was pretty easy for us to pick small camps or non-camps and have a peaceful evening. 

Of course, there's always that one time you missed talking to someone and and a 30 person commercial trip rolls in on you at 5PM.


----------



## Snakerivergirl (Sep 1, 2014)

We will be getting on Sept 8 off on the 14th. We are another large group of 22. Weather looks awesome and likely YJs have been knocked down a bit due to a little spell of colder weather- one could only hope. See you all at the put in  Namaste.


Sent from my iPad using Mountain Buzz


----------



## jge1 (Aug 10, 2014)

Just got off (Corn Creek to Riggins Sept 15-23) and the yellow-jackets were almost totally gone, even though weather was generally warm and beautiful. Can't remember camps.

We scouted handful of rapids due to newbie boatman (me) though I probably would've been ok on all but Black Creek and Bailey. Bailey in particular had formed a big hole right at the end of the tongue; wouldn't have seen it in time and undoubtably flipped, and we weren't planning to scout, but lead boat got stuck at the top trying to sneak right. Lucky break for me ! Flows were 3600-3800 CFS at WhiteBird.


----------

