Whitewater Forum: The Payettes in Idaho

The Payettes in Idaho

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Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12406
Printed Date: 03 Nov 2025 at 5:32pm

Topic: The Payettes in Idaho

Posted By: osmelendez
Subject: The Payettes in Idaho
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2012 at 9:22pm

I'm considering putting together a trip to Horseshoe Bend, Idaho. For those who don't know, Horseshoe Bend is like an hour out of Boise, Idaho and next to Horseshoe Bend is the infamous Payette rivers. The Southfork of the Payette offers a killer class III/class IV full day river trip, and the Northfork of the Payette offers 15 miles of continuos roadside class IV/class V whitewater. The Northfork of the Payette is like a f**king whitewater dream! ALL of it is scout-able. Honestly, though, I would probably only do laps on the lower five miles. The rivers are right next to each other so once we got there we wouldn't be traveling much. Another feature on these rivers is probably one of the best park and play spots that I've ever been to. It's a wave called Climax Wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca_Rq7GxRKo
One day we could run the Southfork of the Payette, the next we could do laps on the Northfork and then surf Climax wave. It would be a stellar weekend.
The options are really good and people could do as they pleased.

SO! I'm putting this out there to see if someone would be interested in joining me and my wife. I'm actually thinking of Labor Day weekend. I know that that's probably the worst weekend for traveling, but I'm trying to arrange it so that we have a camp sight there waiting for us. It's approximately an eight hour drive. There it is folks. Thoughts?

Replies:

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2012 at 9:59pm

here is a video of the Northfork of the Payette made earlier this year.
http://vimeo.com/36527773
anybody want to go on this road trip to the Payette's? I talked with a friend in Boise and he says camping should be alright and not a total cluster fu*k due to the holiday weekend.

Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2012 at 8:33am

Hey Oscar,

I am sure you won't have a problem hooking up with people on Labor Day weekend. There are many from WA who make the annual trek over to ID. You should get a hold of Rob McGibbin if your interested in running the NF. He'd love to show you down in his playboat... and it's mostly just down the middle. Start with lower five and work your way up.

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Posted By: NateW
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2012 at 10:31am

Don't forget that Cascade now has a really nice whitewater park as well.

Posted By: TastyWaves
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2012 at 12:31pm

I think Dan and I are planning on heading that way, we had a great time out there last year over labor day weekend and looking for a good Seshtember 2.0

Anyone else heading out for North Fork? Anyone know what they are expecting in terms of levels?

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Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.

Posted By: brig
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2012 at 2:34pm

Oscar, get out there...it's super fun....
My wife and I went out a few weeks ago on the way to Family Vaca. in CO...
Did the Lower 5 at 2070cfs and it was big and fun..
It's hot as crap, if you take your play boat....definitely go to kelly's whitewater park.

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Chris B.

Posted By: NateW
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2012 at 3:00pm

I wouldn't even worry about a shuttle. Everyone there drives a truck and I'd wager you can hitch a ride pretty easily.

Posted By: osmelendez
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2012 at 9:09pm

kayakidaho.com for water levels.
Idaho is home for me and it will be great to go there for a couple days and be around familiar rivers and territory.

Posted By: edickerson2
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2012 at 10:38pm

In Boise there is an awesome new play park as well! The Boise Whitewater park where the 36th Street wave used to be. Right down the path from Idaho River Sports.

Posted By: justin
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2012 at 11:39am

Just a heads up, I was in Banks last week and there is a huge wildfire that started on the South Fork near Skinny Dipper hot springs. Both the Banks Lowman highway and the one that runs parrallel to the NF were sporadicaly open and closed.

Just thought folks should know. It's a great place to paddle!

Posted By: NateW
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2012 at 2:53pm

Some of the roads connecting Cascade / Boise were closing/opening sort of randomly - definitely something to consider.

How does the Boise park compare to the Cascade park? We didn't make it down there.

Posted By: justin
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2012 at 2:56pm

The Boise park is a weir style wave controlled by bladders. While I was there it was only one wave, and there were lots of surfers, boogie boarders, and playboaters there. The cascade park has more features designed for different flows. If you don't mind the waves being HUGE you can also hit the bladder in horseshoe bend.

Posted By: TastyWaves
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2012 at 8:04pm

Thanks O, I do have some links for checking the current level, but does anyone have beta in terms of predicting what levels will BE?

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Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.

Posted By: TastyWaves
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2012 at 8:04pm

As in what they might be in two weeks over Labor day wknd?

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Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.

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