BANKS, Idaho — The rivers at Banks are flowing fast right now, but not crazy high like last season. Whitewater raft companies will start making trips in May on the Payette River system. It's a good time to book a float before the crowds show up around Memorial Day Weekend.
Going with a guide is the safest way to enjoy the river as they train with swift water rescue techniques, they know the river and they spend countless hours honing their skills.
The Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association believes it will be a promising season and Hardy Bender looks forward to starting his season as a guide in about a week on the Lochsa for Three Rivers Rafting.
"I’m excited about going out there and getting into the big stuff to get my head in the right mind space to go back in the backcountry and be as safe as I can back there," said Bender.
Idaho is the whitewater state and we have some of the best multi-day trips in the country with the Selway, Hells Canyon of the Snake River, the Main Salmon and the Middle Fork of the Salmon. River runners have their eye on the Middle Fork after a huge landslide dumped a bunch of wood in the river last fall.
"A kid from Helfrich River Expeditions just flew the drainage recently and the images that made its way back look really positive," said Bender. "I’ve got faith that we are going to get off the top this year, if those logs don’t move in a big push we are going to try and get them out."
River runners need to win a permit in the lottery to float the four rivers, but people can also go with a guide for a once in a lifetime trip. Bender went to school for business and computer science, but after he grew up rafting he decided to try guiding full-time.
"It just changed the trajectory of my life, I’m not in an office in Memphis anymore and I wouldn’t change a thing about it," said Bender. "It's just beautiful, you get to completely disconnect from this wild world we live in and live on river time."
There are a number of different guides that will run multi-day trips and day trips in Idaho including four that service the Payette River system and customers have a lot of different choices from calm, mellow, and scenic to some pretty wild whitewater.
There is also a large community of private kayakers and rafters. We caught up with Mitch Grabowski and Randi Staudinger after they ran the class four South Fork of the Payette River in their catarafts.
"Yeah, it is one of a kind we just moved out here, and meeting everybody through the river community has been awesome," said Grabowski. "You have so many opportunities to get out so many different rivers."
The rivers in southern Idaho got the best from the snowpack this year as it has already been a long season on the Owyhee River, the Jarbidge, and the Bruneau. The Snake River Murtaugh started running in March and just peaked at high water with 10,000 cubic feet per second.
The Payette River system, the Boise River system, and Salmon ended up being close to average, but the rivers in northern Idaho ended up being well below average. Those include the Clearwater, the Lochsa and the rivers in the panhandle.
