Lochsa trip coming up

The Northwest River Forecast Center's map looks like a condiment fight gone wrong. Nobody wins when you get ketchup and mustard all over your map...except whitewater enthusiasts.

The Lochsa will likely be somewhere between 6 and 9 feet on the visual gauge. Here is a brief video of a raft running two rapids at 9.5 feet on the gauge, muhuhahaha:



Big water fun is sure to be had!

Update. Well, maybe the big water fun will be had by some, but it's looking like much of the PDX community will not be heading out this year, due to high flows. Listen to Johnny Ott, the voice of experience and reason:

Lochsa River

I saw a post by Will[ie] mentioning the Lochsa. I am very familar with this area and I have gone to the big weekend four years steady. This year however I am going in June. Will[ie] is right the river is going off in a not so fun way. IT is very high and thing are washed out with wood floating down. Not a safe time for rafters or kayakers who might be swimming. The weather is not great for the weekend and Idaho is still at 100% snow pack. I would highly recomend going there in the middle of june. The creeking will be great righ around then as well.

Johnny Ott

Second update. Very few people from the PDXkayaker community went out to the Lochsa this Memorial weekend, but those who went said it was pretty epic. Turns out that the water came down to a more manageable "very high" level, and the wood was mostly washed through by the weekend.