It started about six years ago while sitting in lower loon hot srings. You know the one , just a short hike up the creek from Loon creek camp on the Middle Fork. We watched the water in the creek which was darn near up to the hot springs and wondered if it could be run from the top in a cat. After some research a trip was planned for 1998. We had 2 permits and planned to run from Marsch Creek to Cache bar and scout the lower gorge and as far up the creek as we could on the first run then one of our group would drop us off at the Salmon airport on the way back up to the put in. From Salmon we would fly to Upper Loon airstrip and float back down to the M.F. and float out on our 2nd permit. Every thing went according to plan with one hitch. When we scouted Loon on the first trip down the water in the creek was HUGE. We were on the peak of the run off and it appeared Loon would be at its peak when we planned to be on it. At that flow it looked like we would not even be able to float at cat under the footbrige which crosses the creek near the Simplot ranch house. It was far to dangerous to attempt any run, much less a first run. The Loon plan was dropped (for that year) and plan B was utilized-turn the corner and do the Main at about 85,000 on the gage at whitebird.

A plan to run Loon was formulated again in 2002. This was a slightly different plan. This time we hooked up with some friends of ours from Washington who had a permit. The Washington group included Barry Brazzel,Ralph Pond and his brother Larry, Rich Samuals from north Idaho Tadd Mick and Phil Schick. Our group included myself, Ted and Deb Day (on one cat) and Dean Schlommer, all from Boise. The plan was they would go down Marsch creek and we would fly into upper Loon airstrip on the same day. We would meet again 3 days later on the M.F. at Loon Creek hot springs, or if they were early they would hike up thecreek to meet us.

We flew into upper Loon airsrip on Saturday May 25, 2002 in beutiful weather. The flow at the M.F. lodge was about 4.2 a little lower than we wanted. We had hoped for flows around 5 ft but agreed that 4.5 to 5.5 would be ideal. Since we had 3 days to make 22 miles we were not that concerned that the flow was a little lower than desired Also our 4.5 to 5.5 target was based on our scouts of the creek using the old gage. When we flew in we had the pilot fly down the creek a little ways so we could try to scout log problems. We saw 2 definite areas from the air we would have to deal with. After unloading the plane (a twin Islander) of the 3 cats, frames oars and misc. gear the plane left and we were committed. We started rigging about 11:00 a.m. and got on the creek about 1:00. We knew we had one log jam about a mile and a half to 2 miles below the put in. The creek at the beginning and the entire first day had a marsch creek feel, fast few eddies and small. At the first log jam we lined Teds boat and carried it around in about 10 minutes. While lining my boat (a 15.5 as opposed to a 14ft used by Ted and Dean) it got stuck in a reversal just above the log. After about 40 miutes we were able to pull it back up stream and portage it down the other side of the log jam. We ended up taking Deans boat the route as mine so we would'nt spend another 45 minutes messing with a stuck boat. The rest of day 1 was pretty much uneventful but did include having to deal with one other log jam and 4 other single logs across the creek. We were able to lift the boats up onto the logs and tip them over to the downstream sideon the 4 logs with one log that we were able to push the 14 ft boats under. We covered about 6 miles on the first day and camped at the hot springs at upper Loon which were very nice.

Day 2 was relatively log free but we had a lot of miles to cover. We wanted to get to a couple of miles above the lower gorge which meant we needed to do about 11 to 12 miles. We floated to Falconberry Ranch where we had lunch. Falconberry is an old ranch with an airstrip which has been closed by the Forest Service. The creek from camp to Falconberry and a couple of miles below Faconberry was fairly wide and meandering and slower with less gradient than the previous day or that we would encounter later in the day. Very pretty county and remote at this time of year. After lunch we floated a couple more miles below Biggs ranch. At this point the canyon walls closed in and the gradient incresed significantly. After about a mile to a mile and a half below Biggs we hit a huge log jam. This log jam was followed by a class V rapid. It might have been possible to float around the left side of the jam but that would have left you in a bad position to set up for the rapid. We decided to go around the right side where we were able to float the boats under a big log that supported the whole right side of the jam. Much more water and we would have had to "up and over" the log to position the boats for the rapid. Once past the log we positioned safety and Dean went first. The run was good and the only excitement was Ted trying to go over a rock instead of next to it down a slot against the right bank.All did well and after getting past the calss V rapid the Creek became very swift with many class 3 and 4 rapids mixed with blind corners and few eddies. At this point we had Deb walk the trail with a 2 way radio to warn us of any logs or other problems. As it turned out we were able to float and boat scout most of the creek or eddie out to scout blind corners in rapids.

Day 3- the gorge. On the morning of day 3 we decided to walk the trail down to the gorge and scout the rest of the run from the trail. We found only one more log about a half mile below camp that would require the "up and over" move but it wasn't to tough. When we reached the gorge we ran into Tadd and Phil who had hiked up to meet us. After scouting the gorge we hiked back up to camp and loaded the boats and floated down to the Bennet pack bridge. Perhaps at this point I should explain what the "gorge" is for those who have never hiked up the loon creek trail past the hot spings. The gorge is a part of Loon creek about 1/2 mile up the creek from the hot springs and is about 3/4 mile long going up to the Bennett pack brige. In this 3/4 mile the creek walls are steep and the creek bed is full of gigantic chunks of granite Near the bottom of the gorge the entire creek is pinched between a rock wall on the left and a house sized boulder on the right. Just below this pourover a boulder is all or partly submerged in the middle of the channel dependeing on flows. See photos. Our run through the gorge was fun, exciting and a bit nerve racking as at some spots there was barely enough room to squeze a boat through. A little more water would have helped a lot but also would have icreased the power of the hydralics we were dealing with. All in all it was a very fun trip and I will prabably do it again if the right circumstances come together. THIS IS NOT A TRIP FOR THE INEXPERIENCED OR UNQUALIFIED. The people on this trip have years of backcountry expedition experience and we took many safety precautions. Do not think you can read this trip report and have the knowledge needed to run this creek. We ran it after years of investigation, research and witing for optimal conditions to occur. I can tell anyone that the log jam and following class V rapid if not run and portaged would probobly take a full day with the equipement we had. If you are considering this run make sure you have scouted the lower gorge at different flows so you are prepared for whatever you will have to deal with. The thought of portaging the gorge with my cat and all that goes with it would make me think about whether it was time for all new equipment. That might be the better option. On a final note I want to thank evey one involved with tis trip including Barry and his permit and especially Tadd and Phil for carrying some of our dry bags around the gorge and double especially to phil again for the great photos he took of us in the gorge. And Deb for female presence in the midst of Ted and Dean and all her help on the trip. AND most of all to Vince for providing a forum to share these experiences with other boaters. Thanks again Vince