River of No Return

We took a drive up to Riggins,  Idaho.  This is a small town that lies along the Salmon River.  This river is famous for salmon fishing -of course- but also for river rafting trips.   It also is called the River of No Return.  It flows through the Frank Church River of No Return wilderness.  This area was made famous by the movie of the same name.  There is a raft like the one used in the movie on display at a riverside park in town.  I'm not sure if its a replica or the one from the movie but it looked kind of puny to navigate this river.

The Salmon River is one of the longest rivers in the country without any form of dam on it.  It dumps into the Snake River and then these rivers go through Hells Canyon and on into the Columbia River.  Riggins is at only 1800 feet elevation while Cascade is at 4800 feet.  As we dropped down to Riggins we noticed how much drier the area looked.  Its still fairly green around Cascade but around Riggins it was bone dry.  It was kind of scary because you are down in a canyon surrounded by very dry mountains.  If there were a fire in this area it would be hard to get out of the area in a hurry.   A raft might be the best way!