Middle Fork of the Salmon

Boundary Creek to the Main Salmon confluence · Class III–IV · ID

Lottery

—no reading

No reading

Snapshot from Oct 22, 2026. Live reading loading.

Runnable range 1,000 to 9,000 cfs. This is a draft estimate that paddlers have not reviewed yet.

Season

Permit control season May 28 to Sep 3, runs best June to July

Character

About 100 miles of clear water through the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, with hot springs, fly-in access and Class III-IV rapids.

Watch for

Early-season flows are cold and pushy, flows drop fast in July, and help is far away. Chinook spawning areas can close campsites.

Gauge

USGS 13309220
Middle Fork Salmon River at Middle Fork Lodge near Yellow Pine
No reading in the Oct 22, 2026 snapshot.

Permit

LotteryOpens Dec 1, in 28 days.

Apply Dec 1 to Jan 31 in the Four Rivers lottery. One of the hardest permits in the West to draw.

Apply on Recreation.gov Official page

Fees and rules

$6 non-refundable reservation fee, plus $4 per person per day unless you hold a Salmon Rivers Season Pass.

A float permit is required year-round for the stretch from Dagger Falls to the Main Salmon confluence. The lottery control season runs May 28 to Sep 3. During the control season, groups of 1 to 10 may stay up to 8 days, 11 to 20 up to 7 days, and 21 to 24 up to 6 days. Permits from Aug 8 to Sep 15 are limited to 12 watercraft. Permits are issued by email in advance. Chinook spawning areas can close campsites.

Source: Recreation.gov and Salmon-Challis National Forest pages. The Recreation.gov 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.

Trip reports

Wavetrain is an early build. Flow readings are USGS provisional data and may be revised. Runnable ranges and run details are drafts for paddlers to review. Permit dates and rules come from the agency pages linked on each permit and can change. Snowpack figures come from NRCS SNOTEL stations, are provisional, and are grouped into basins by watershed, so they may differ from official NRCS basin reports. Nothing here replaces scouting, local knowledge or a conversation with a nearby outfitter.