i will be going up to Saint Anthony on friday to pick up my new drift boat and am looking to do a few simple floats. I am a rookie rower who is worried about the run off. i was hoping to do the snake( not sure what stretch) and the Teton. Any local advice would be great. i am looking for a simple section to get use to the new boat . i will post this in the paddling thread as well. thank you.
Ben -
The Henry’s Fork is running very high at St. Anthony right now. Its supposed to crest over flood stage early Thursday morning, last I heard, and will likely be quite high through the weekend and beyond.
The South Fork is also running high and very discolored. And, they may be doing the annual “flush” over the weekend - which means they will kick the flows to 20-22,000 CFS for two or three days.
Neither one of these rivers would be a good place for a “rookie” rower right now, or for the next week or more, to my way of thinking.
Don’t really follow the Teton, but I know Robinson Creek and the Falls River, both of which are in the same general area, are in serious run off right now.
Two suggestions :
(1) go to google and search Idaho Stream Flows. The first site up will be the USGS site. Scroll down to Henry’s Fork at Ashton and at St. Anthony and at Rexburg - and note the current flows compared to the long term average flows for the day. If you click on the river code, left column, you will get a seven day graph - it will tell you more than you need to know. Also note the flows on the Falls River at Chester - big time run off.
You can do the same thing for the South Fork, checking at Palisades and at Heise. Those stations are basically under a controlled flow, and not subject to as much run off as Henry’s Fork, but it will give you some information to work with. The key here is the question when the “flush” will happen.
You can do the same thing for the Teton River. I just checked the Teton - it is running twice the long term average for this date.
(2) Call Jimmy’s All Seasons Angler in Idaho Falls - 208-524-7160. Any one there can tell you what a rookie should be doing with a drift boat on any of the rivers you’ve expressed interest in.
John
Come to St. Anthony. Enjoy the fisherman’s breakfast on Friday. Hook up the boat and head for Utah on Saturday. Wait six weeks, and then check the flows again. The South Fork isn’t a really good stream to cut your rowing teeth on, even when it isn’t running brown. Get some experience under your belt, or learn with an experienced rower over your shoulder, before you take the boat on big water. It’s like a lot of other things. It’s not hard to learn, but you need to go through the process.