troutstreaming
Sep-05-2006, 12:00 PM
Hi all,
Several months back I had posted some questions regarding gear for a long electricity free trip and there were some requests to post images upon my return - so just remember that you asked for it...
Images were taken with a 20d or a Pentax W10. Because of a number of factors (forest fire smoke and wife not wanting to row the fully laden cataraft down a class III/IV river) I did not take nearly as many images as I should have so battery capacity and memory/storage never became an issue. The Pelican case worked flawlessly and provided ready acces to the dSLR on those occasions when I could convince my wife to row. The Pentax Optio W10 got a lot of work as it was around my neck so I could grab it at all times. Even though it is a 6 MP camera it is quite soft and there are a lot of shots that I had wished that I had used the 20D for. It does make up for its image quality shortcomings though by being small and waterproof!
We spent eight days floating about 100 miles of the main stem of the Salmon River in Idaho, famous for being a route that Lewis and Clark did not take on their way to the Pacific Ocean.
Because of the length of the float and the desire of the party to feast on gourmet meals every night dry ice was used in the food coolers (beer was left to hang in the river.) This is what happens when you toss the extra dry ice in to a river:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93054612-M.jpgUnderwater image with the Pentax W10
The group consisted of 11 floating craft for 15 people and was a mix of kayaks, rafts and catarafts. The larger boats had the privledge of hawling more gear:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92508601-M.jpg
18' cataraft in Devils Teeth Rapid
While the Kayaker's carried little but themselves:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93053690-M.jpg
Kayaker entering Devils Teeth Rapid
The river flows were at a pretty friendly level, with most of the rafting challenge being more of one of boat handling through the exposed rocks than fighting through big holes and eddy lines:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93053533-M.jpg
Raft entering Salmon Falls
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93056451-M.jpgCataraft pillowing off rock at entrance to Salmon Falls
While this section of the river is a Wild and Scenic River bounded in parts by wilderness areas the use of jet boats was grandfathered in, and they too were confronted with carefully picking there way through the rocks:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92368689-M.jpg
Jet boat in Salmon River Falls
One nice suprise was the presence of amphibians:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92366779-M.jpg
Underwater macro of a Woodhouse's Toad Eye (I think ID is correct) taken with the W10
The middle of the float was characterized by smoke - lots of smoke, as there were several forest fires burning near the canyon. For several days the canyon received only filtered sunlight. To insure that structures along the river were safe fire crews ended up setting a backfire on the river at Cambells Ferry, although it had mostly burned out by the time we floated by:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93053283-M.jpg
Cambells Ferry Backfire Remnants with W10
The Salmon River Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the US, behind Hells Canyon Gorge on the Snake River. Most of the time you do not get a feeling for the relief as the tops of the hills rise above you out of sight:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92377531-M.jpgSalmon Rive Canyon Below Dried Meat Rapid with W10
While the photography did not go as planned, the trip itself was wonderfull (minus the smoke...) We were able to sleep outside on sandy beaches on all but one night and while we occasionally saw the hand of man or other rafting parties it never felt crowded. The river at this time of year is floatable only under permits that are issued by lottery every winter and there is a strict pack it out policy (including microtrash and ALL solid waste) and a good leave no trace ethic by visitors that makes it hard to tell that there are something like 10,000 users of the canyon every summer.
I have additional images at http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/gallery/1854065/1
Please feel welcome to browse that gallery and leave any thoughts, comments or critiques on technique there.
Thank you for looking,
Andy
Several months back I had posted some questions regarding gear for a long electricity free trip and there were some requests to post images upon my return - so just remember that you asked for it...
Images were taken with a 20d or a Pentax W10. Because of a number of factors (forest fire smoke and wife not wanting to row the fully laden cataraft down a class III/IV river) I did not take nearly as many images as I should have so battery capacity and memory/storage never became an issue. The Pelican case worked flawlessly and provided ready acces to the dSLR on those occasions when I could convince my wife to row. The Pentax Optio W10 got a lot of work as it was around my neck so I could grab it at all times. Even though it is a 6 MP camera it is quite soft and there are a lot of shots that I had wished that I had used the 20D for. It does make up for its image quality shortcomings though by being small and waterproof!
We spent eight days floating about 100 miles of the main stem of the Salmon River in Idaho, famous for being a route that Lewis and Clark did not take on their way to the Pacific Ocean.
Because of the length of the float and the desire of the party to feast on gourmet meals every night dry ice was used in the food coolers (beer was left to hang in the river.) This is what happens when you toss the extra dry ice in to a river:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93054612-M.jpgUnderwater image with the Pentax W10
The group consisted of 11 floating craft for 15 people and was a mix of kayaks, rafts and catarafts. The larger boats had the privledge of hawling more gear:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92508601-M.jpg
18' cataraft in Devils Teeth Rapid
While the Kayaker's carried little but themselves:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93053690-M.jpg
Kayaker entering Devils Teeth Rapid
The river flows were at a pretty friendly level, with most of the rafting challenge being more of one of boat handling through the exposed rocks than fighting through big holes and eddy lines:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93053533-M.jpg
Raft entering Salmon Falls
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93056451-M.jpgCataraft pillowing off rock at entrance to Salmon Falls
While this section of the river is a Wild and Scenic River bounded in parts by wilderness areas the use of jet boats was grandfathered in, and they too were confronted with carefully picking there way through the rocks:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92368689-M.jpg
Jet boat in Salmon River Falls
One nice suprise was the presence of amphibians:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92366779-M.jpg
Underwater macro of a Woodhouse's Toad Eye (I think ID is correct) taken with the W10
The middle of the float was characterized by smoke - lots of smoke, as there were several forest fires burning near the canyon. For several days the canyon received only filtered sunlight. To insure that structures along the river were safe fire crews ended up setting a backfire on the river at Cambells Ferry, although it had mostly burned out by the time we floated by:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/93053283-M.jpg
Cambells Ferry Backfire Remnants with W10
The Salmon River Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the US, behind Hells Canyon Gorge on the Snake River. Most of the time you do not get a feeling for the relief as the tops of the hills rise above you out of sight:
http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/photos/92377531-M.jpgSalmon Rive Canyon Below Dried Meat Rapid with W10
While the photography did not go as planned, the trip itself was wonderfull (minus the smoke...) We were able to sleep outside on sandy beaches on all but one night and while we occasionally saw the hand of man or other rafting parties it never felt crowded. The river at this time of year is floatable only under permits that are issued by lottery every winter and there is a strict pack it out policy (including microtrash and ALL solid waste) and a good leave no trace ethic by visitors that makes it hard to tell that there are something like 10,000 users of the canyon every summer.
I have additional images at http://troutstreaming.smugmug.com/gallery/1854065/1
Please feel welcome to browse that gallery and leave any thoughts, comments or critiques on technique there.
Thank you for looking,
Andy