In late July this year we have a unique top-to-bottom trip through this wilderness area. People will fly in a small charter plane into a back-country air strip on the east edge of the wilderness area, spend a night at a lodge there, then the next morning travel by horseback and pack string to an area of high mountain lakes, camp, hike and fish for a day, camp again, then ride down to the Middle Fork of the Salmon.
The route into the lake area reaches nearly 9000 feet elevation, among peaks that exceed 9000′. There are mountain goats and bighorn sheep, elk and deer, bears and mountain lions in the area, trout in the glacial lakes. There may still be patches of snow. On a clear day you can see the peaks of the Continental Divide on the Idaho-Montana border, and turn in the saddle and see the peaks of the Seven Devils range on the Idaho-Oregon border–completely across the state of Idaho.
Only a handful of people travel this area in year’s time. After descending from the high country, riders will then spend a night at a lodge near the river, with an adjacent hot springs, and then transfer to our boats for four days on the Middle Fork to the confluence of the Middle Fork and the Main Salmon River at 3000 feet elevation.
