# Lower salmon-vinegar creek to eagle creek?



## wshutt (Jun 20, 2013)

When? It's running at 60,000+ at the moment and has that malevolent look to it or are you looking for later in the season? 

Approx (from memory not looking at map) 25 miles Vinegar to Riggins, 30 miles Riggins to Hammer Creek, 39 miles Hammer to Eagle Creek. You'd make the miles fast at these flows as long as there are no mishaps. We have never driven Eagle Creek road - it has a bad reputation and you would want to check locally as there have been some recent washouts of other roads. Pine bar is about 10 miles downstream from Hammer CK and has paved access. Everything would be high bench camping at this point at 60,000 it is basically bank to bank with no beaches, that might make camping on the hwy 195 road stretch tricky as many benches are private but there is a campground at Slate Creek rec area you could access.









Birgit said:


> I am looking for information on the lower salmon. We are thinking about putting in at vinegar creek and taking out just above Slide.
> 
> Which takeout would we shoot for if we don’t want to run Slide? And how many river miles would that be?
> What is the camping like along the road?
> ...


----------



## Birgit (Jul 10, 2011)

We are planning to put in July 10, so the water should be down. But we still would like to have a backup in case it doesn’t come down enough by then.


----------



## wshutt (Jun 20, 2013)

Snowpack in the basin was over 100% average in a few places but has come off early, take a look and you'll see many snowtel sites (Banner, Secesh, etc) have zeroed out early. So no Slide worries by then; I'm betting it will be down to riffle status below 10,000. 







Birgit said:


> We are planning to put in July 10, so the water should be down. But we still would like to have a backup in case it doesn’t come down enough by then.


----------



## The Mogur (Mar 1, 2010)

We are launching July 6 from Riggins. We plan to go to Heller Bar, and are watching the river flow carefully. It is peaking right now, about two weeks early and higher than average. That (we hope) means that the flow will be under the 20,000 cfs threshold for safely running Slide Rapid. I've run the Vinegar Creek to Heller Bar stretch a few times, and I have a detailed map that shows the places we've camped and other campsites we've noted in passing. I can PM that.


----------



## KiltedKayaker (Mar 23, 2012)

I am planning a trip from Hammer Creek to Heller Bar launching July 5th. I also have been watching the flow closely and with some trepidation. It is reassuring to hear that the consensus is for lower, more manageable flows by then. What is the tipping point, flow wise, for Slide? I will be in an Aire 156 and will have a 14' cat and a couple kayaks along.. I was thinking 15-17000 cfs would be the limit. Thoughts?


----------



## dirtbagkayaker (Oct 29, 2008)

I would not pull a trailer down and out of eagle creek unless I had too. That's a long rough haul. If it stays hot, then the river could be under 20K. It will be anyone's guess on flows. I don't run the slide over 17500. camping wont be an issue. I don't think anyone shuttles eagle creek. So, you'd need to bring your shuttle guy and get everything in the shuttle rig(s). If you do eagle be prepared to be committed.


----------



## Vasevida (May 2, 2017)

I would 2nd what DB kayaker said about Eagle Creek. Pine Bar is much better option if not going to Heller Bar. The slide maybe to 20k, a bit higher maybe 27 in a hard shell kayak. Saw a Dory get a beat down there once about 27k.


----------



## Koffler (Aug 4, 2015)

The Northwest River Forecast Center currently predicts the Salmon (at Whitebird) to be at 11,977 cfs on July 5


----------



## Birgit (Jul 10, 2011)

What does that translate to for the section where Slide is? I am rather unfamiliar with the Salmon (as you can tell ) and do not know where the gauges are.


----------



## dirtbagkayaker (Oct 29, 2008)

The slide at 12k aint all that bad in a 16' round boat considering you rolled city run and snow hole by the time you get there. But I just don't buy -12K on 7/5 like a shoplifter at walmart. I can not remember the last time it was that low at that time. Or much under 20K for that matter. Usually I running the lower mid July.. But who knows this year, the snow is coming off the mountains for sure. One needs to keep in mind that the drainage into the lower is massively huge.


----------



## wshutt (Jun 20, 2013)

Unless I'm reading the graphs incorrectly the Whitebird data for '13, '15' & '16 all show at or below 10,000cfs on July 4th. Now last year was quite a different beast. The snowtel sites across the basin are either at 0 or really low, it came off really quickly, roads and trails are opening up early. I'm sticking with my prediction of below 10,000cfs and Slide down to a riffle by a first week of July launch 




dirtbagkayaker said:


> The slide at 12k aint all that bad in a 16' round boat considering you rolled city run and snow hole by the time you get there. But I just don't buy -12K on 7/5 like a shoplifter at walmart. I can not remember the last time it was that low at that time. Or much under 20K for that matter. Usually I running the lower mid July.. But who knows this year, the snow is coming off the mountains for sure. One needs to keep in mind that the drainage into the lower is massively huge.


----------

