Floating the S. Fork of the Snake River

What a great time. Sam, Steve, and myself set out early in the morning and drove up to the Conant boat launch. Its located East of Idaho Falls, before Swan Valley. We stopped, as usual at Albertos for a few breakfast burritos, had a safety meeting and headed out.

We got a big surprise when we pulled up to the boat launch and the Secret Service stopped us about 100 yards from the boat launch. Dick Cheney was here, and he was getting dressed into his fishing gear about 20 feet ahead of us. So, we had to hang out and wait for him and his 2 jet ski security outfits, plus a couple more boats with Secret Service manning the oars.

Here is a funny video of Steve asking me to take his gun and put in in the front of the boat. We JUST passed Vice President Cheney about 5 minutes ago, I'm quite sure we were being watched by a few people. Too funny... you hear the alarm in Sam's voice when he sees the gun!

Here's a picture of Dick Cheney walking to his boat.

Fun time, we piggy-backed the Vice President a few times that day. He was polite, never really intruded or interrupted out fishing day. We took Sam's drift boat and enjoyed the float through the valley. High cliffs on both sides and nothing but golden and amber trees. It was Fall and the leaves had turned bright yellow and red. Beautiful area in the Fall and a great float.

We stopped a few times to check out overhangs, caves, and creek inlets. We ended up at the Cottonwood Boat Ramp, just off River road. Fun float and everyone caught some fish. The float took about 7 hours and we did about 10 miles of floating. We were able to cut into some side slow water and had to drag the boat here and there. We ran into Cheney's party that was also on the side fishing, they just told us to hang there while they left and got back on their boats.

We got to the boat launch to pull out and the parking lot was filled with tons of support vehicles for the VP, plus a few ambulances and law enforcement type cars. We had a shuttle so the shuttle service drove Sam's truck from the launch area to the pullout boat launch. Nice service, makes it real nice having your car and trailer waiting there for us!

Kayaking on the Idaho Falls Greenbelt

It was Frank' birthday so we all went down to the Idaho Falls greenbelt, downtown Idaho Falls. It was a hot one, probably 90 degree's and being down on the water sure felt good. We went down to the usual drop in spot, right under the visitor overview deck looking over the falls. The kids were happy to get another boat ride and go right up to the falls.



It was a good float, taking maybe 40 minutes. We usually drop in right below the falls, goof off for a while and go right up to the falls and other outlets. The girls like going right up to the smaller falls and putting their hand in the running water. There are a few inlets that are similar to a cave like entrance. We can pull the kayaks right up to them and the girls can hang out under the waterfall, not getting wet.



Pretty calm day, say a few jet skiiers and a fishing boat, thats it, we had the river to ourselves. Of course when we put in, we were right next to the tourists on the greenbelt and they staired at us thinking we were nuts. When they saw us in the water having a good time, another story. The ride cruises along about 4 mph on the first part of the float. Once you float under the Broadway Bridge, there is a nice side current, that once you hit it, it speeds you up to about 9 mph for about 400 feet. The girls love it because we're crusing along pretty good, right along the southern bank of the Snake River.

Here's a very short video of us on the water



Here's a short video of the girls rolling down grass on the greenbelt

Kayaking from Lorenzo to Menan

What a great July day for a float. We started out early and were at the launch, the pullout spot, by 0800. We met up there and left Dave's truck and headed for the launch in Lorenzo. We took off to float from the Lorenzo bridge, near Rigby Idaho (about 15 minutes from Idaho Falls). We floated about 8 miles, straight through the merge of the Henry's Fork of the Snake and the South Fork of the Snake River.



Conditions were perfect. Getting in the water by 0830 and a good flow of 5.5 mph pushing us along. No fishing this day, we were there to just sit back and let the water take us. For the most part, it was easy, relaxing floating. The river was a little swollen still so there were plenty of off-shoots to the south, little creek-like waterways heading in all directions, branching off into the woods. We took a few and found a few nice, fast corners.

We saw 2 gigantic Bald Eagle couples... unreal how big they were. We also saw 2 gigantic Osprey couples... these birds were bigger than Mia! We floated directly under a few eagles who were resting on a branch that overhung the river. Impressive birds they are... We later found out that 4 miles, up to the merge, is a national eagle sanctuary. You're not allowed to step foot on the bank.



A nice day it was. We stopped about midway to pull out and take a break, leak, and stretch... The float took a couple hours at the most. I left home at 0745 and was home by 1130. Not bad for a 9 or so mile float. Perfect weather, nothing but the water pushing us along. We of course started the day with an Alberto's Burrito... had a couple beers out there, of course not while we were floating, that would be illegal wouldn't it?

Here's a few video's of Frank and Dave floating down the Snake River