Main Salmon

Corn Creek to Carey Creek · Class III–IV · ID

Season

Permit control season Jun 20 to Sep 7

Character

About 78 miles of big, sandy-beach river in a canyon more than a mile deep, mostly Class II-III with a few Class IV rapids.

Watch for

Rafts flip more easily at higher flows. Big Mallard, Black Creek Falls and Elkhorn are the Class IV rapids named by paddlers.

Gauge

USGS 13317000
Salmon River at White Bird
No reading in the Oct 22, 2026 snapshot.
The White Bird gauge is downstream of the take-out, so it reads higher than the water in the upper canyon.

Permit

LotteryOpens Dec 1, in 28 days.

Apply Dec 1 to Jan 31 in the Four Rivers lottery. Slightly better odds than the Middle Fork.

Apply on Recreation.govOfficial page

Fees and rules

$6 non-refundable reservation fee, plus $4 per person per day as a Special Recreation Fee.

The lottery control season runs Jun 20 to Sep 7. During it, groups of 1 to 10 may stay up to 8 days, 11 to 20 up to 7 days, and 21 to 30 up to 6 days. Outside the control season the limit is 30 people and 10 days. The permit holder must be 18 or older, and only one permit per person is allowed during the control season. Cancel at least 21 days before launch in the control season or face a three-year penalty.

Source: Recreation.gov permit page. The listing does not repeat the lottery dates; they come from the Four Rivers lottery.

Snowpack

Salmon River (Idaho)Early season

Snow water equivalent 0.5 in. Early season — median too low for a meaningful %.

Outlook indicator, not a flow forecast. Spring temperatures, rain, soil moisture, dust on snow and reservoir releases also matter. NRCS SNOTEL data as of Nov 1, 2026 (provisional).

See basin snowpack

Draft details for paddlers to review and edit. Community voting on runnable ranges is coming.