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4 days, boundary to cache bar, 1.6

pungo creek, cow creek, love bar

in challis my dad parted ways with blake, tom and i.  he turned towards salmon so he could catch his plane the following morning.  we headed to stanley where we would stay the night before our september 2nd launch.  we pushed off from boundary at 9:00 am and floated into indian creek at 4:00 pm.  picking up my dad we also checked in with sarah and floated our last two miles to pungo.  it was a long day and we were ready for camp!  sarah all but accused me of lying about making it from boundary to indian on one day.  most of the folks around indian creek told my dad that he might as well pitch his tent because we would never make it.  the fact is that if you don't mind work, it can be done and easier than you can build that fence on your backyard.......which is why my fence still isn't built ;)

this is my 14th trip down the middle fork, but it is the 1st trip for my dad. however this nice little cut is about his 50th catch for the trip and i have yet to drop a hook into the middle fork. some people may think that is strange, but he loves to fish and i love to raft. not strange at all really!

at flying b we were informed about several fires burning along the river, but as of that time there were no warnings or restrictions.  we did hear that some folks had a bit of a scare at fly camp due to approaching fire.  woolard was closed due to fire.  that is about all we really knew as we continued on towards love bar.

the fires burn above big creek. woolard was burned, but survey was ok. hot spots remain everywhere. it is interesting and a bit foreboding.

smoke and fire around big creek. many trees were burned and burning.

fire still burning around the cut throat cove area. we saw many such hot spots.

camp at love bar in the fires! blake is pointing to a tree that is burning at it's base. this tree was burning when we arrived around 5 pm and was still burning when we left the following morning. i am sure it finally fell as did two others across the river from our camp.

fires erupt and die over and over just a 1/2 mile downstream. this canyon would be one canyon up from veil falls. one after another we saw flames torch and consume trees. on occasion we could hear the fires fury that sounded like ignited gunpowder.

my dad and i at love bar. dad had wanted to float some part of the salmon river for over 60 years. not only did he get to float it and catch some fish, but he also got to experience a less usual event of camping amidst a forest fire.

the fire erupts again. as night came on we could see small fires burning everywhere. eruptions up along this ridge would light our camp well enough to walk around without a flashlight. at 11 pm and then again at 6 am trees across the river crashed to the ground having finally burned down. the sounds were thunderous. it was an awesome experience and a unique trip!  however we still prefer it without the fires as company.