The Salmon River is entirely within the state of Idaho in North America. Originating high in the Sawtooth Mountains near Norton Peak in Lemhi county, it then flows north to Salmon, Idaho and then west to its confluence with the Snake River in the Hells Canyon national recreational area at a location just west of White Bird, Idaho in Nez Pierce county.

Discovered in 1805 by Lewis and Clark, and explored with great difficulty by fur trappers and prospectors, the Salmon river drains a vast area of rugged mountains and deep canyons. This river did not allow passage by boats up the main canyon until 1950 and because of this had been called the River of No Return. There are still large areas of untamed wilderness in these mountains surrounding the Salmon river and some of it′s tributaries.

East Fork Salmon River, Pahsimeroi River, Lemhi River,

North Fork Salmon River

Yankee Fork, Panther Creek, Middle Fork Salmon River,

South Fork Salmon River, Little Salmon River

It is colder this morning than it has been for quite a few days and methinks that I have found a place where I might spend my summer hiatus. I was told that during the days, it does however, rise into the nineties during August but that it most every night still cools down to fifty degrees or lower. This morning I arise, dress, start the jammer to warm up the inside and soon after begin drive south on SH 75 continuing upstream along the Salmon river.

After a short drive, I come to a lodge and cafe and stop to buy coffee but have to wait almost an hour before it opens. I talk to a couple of hunters and find out that the highway continues to follow the Salmon river, now, no more that a creek and narrow enough to jump across. They also tell me that there is a hg-mart and w-mart in Ketchem, and that less than fifty miles.

With coffee in my cup, I continue south upriver crossing the Salmon a couple more times before beginning my climb up to Galena Pass. On the way up, I stop at an overlook of the Salmon river valley and the valley up into the headwaters in the Sawtooth mountains.

Further up the mountain, I arrived at another overlook and could see clearly the river valley below me as well as the Sawtooth mountains in the backdrop. The source of the Salmon is about ten miles southwest into the distant mountain at the where the river rises at over 9200 feet on the north side of Norton Peak

At this road crossing, the Salmon has become no more than the size of most creeks, about six feet across and less than one foot deep.

Earlier this morning, I broke camp crossed the Salmon River and began traveling upstream again and in a shot time, the river begins to reduced in width rapidly.

Driving down the Little Salmon, I arrive in Riggins, Idaho where the Little Salmon flows into the Salmon river, after which the Salmon flows roughly eighty-five miles downriver before it′s confluence with Snake river. Stopping in Riggins city park and raft take out location. I take photos of the Salmon river as it now turns due north after the confluence with the Little Salmon.

Fifteen million years ago, the river crossed the great Miocene lava flows above here and began carving this deep canyon. Later, the surface of the earth here gradually rose and as it did, the river cut down through older rock below the lava flows. The Salmon river here is only eight miles from the confluence with the Snake and Hells Canyon, the deepest of them all.

Shortly after this point, US 95 veers slightly east of the river to the climb up the White Bird grade to the Camas Prairie high above the river valley, while the Salmon river enters a desert wilderness and makes a sweeping arch to the west and then turns southward towards it′s confluence with the Snake River at the Idaho-Oregon Border just twelve miles south of Washington State.

My journey now takes me away from the Salmon River for now as I climb up onto the Camas Prairie and head northward through vast fields of barley, canola, wheat, and other grains all at varying stages of growth, as I continue always in search for that ever so elusive perfect temperature where I may overnight.