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Terry and I were able to spend a few days on Idaho’s world-famous North Fork of the Payette. The N.F. Payette is located roughly 60 miles from Boise, in a small town known as Banks, ID. Both Terry and I have spent a pretty significant of time in this area in the past, primarily running sections of the SF Payette and other area runs.
From the moment I set eyes on the NFP 2 summers ago, I was absolutely intrigued with its shear power; 15 miles of bank-to-bank, rip-roaring explosive whitewater. It was two summers ago I got my first taste of what this Idaho gem had to offer and ran the “warm-up section” This consisted of a 2.5 mile stretch, with no named rapids in the mix. I was blown away. What looked like good ole “boogy” from the road, proved to be the most nerve racking whitewater I had paddled.
This go around, we opted to dig a little deeper and take on the lowest section of the 15 miles run; The Lower 5. Terry and I peeled out into the first big named rapid. “Hounds Tooth” and it was quite the wake up call; It was huge. A mess in all directions followed by crashing waves 3x bigger than I expected. We were off;
What followed was 5 miles of the most full on, adrenaline pumping whitewater we have ever faced. The river is so steep and so shallow, you feel as if you are going 20mph toward the next man-eating hole.
The next big rapids were soon upon us, causing much anxiety and doubt amongst ourselves. As we entered OtterSlide, the second named rapid on this run, Terry was pulled into the middle and got twerked in a shallow hole; It wasn’t until after Terry came out of the hole in his boat that I realized just how serious a swim on this river would be…
With our confidence on the fence, and the two remaining rapids, Juicer and Crunch, being the toughest on the lower 5, we took out early and opted for another “warm-up lap” before we took on the last two big dogs.
The next lap, feeling a bit more in control and overall comfortable on the river, we decided to give the bottom two a whirl. Juicer is a looongg rapid, with a hell-uva hole extending the entire left side of the river, eagerly awaiting the offline paddler…
Terry and I both charged with confidence and blasted through the mayhem with no mishaps; Crunch was upon us moments later and went without too much fight
When we finally reached the take out, we were smiling ear to ear, having just completed the most fun, out of control and down right scary big water run we’d ever taken on.
All in all, the time spent on the NF Payette will go down in my book as some of the Wildest WhiteWater out west!
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