Payette Fires?

[richjz]

Heard from friends that there was a fire along the Payette by Banks. Any issues a visitor should know about? We are headed up for some family rafting in a week.

[fireman9500]

Nope, your good to go. The canyon has not burned..........yet. (as of 4 days ago when we ran it)

Scout all rapids in the staircase section to make sure that no new wood has entered.

The main is clear of wood and should not be an issue.

NF has not burned.

[FarPastGone]

The Springs Fire, which is the fire that was in the Payette drainages, is 100% contained. You may see some smoldering trees along the river left hillside above and adjacent to Slalom Rapid on the SF Payette, but that is the extent. The fire did make it up the NF Payette to about Otter's Slide, down the Main Payette to just about 1 mile S of Banks, but primarily impacted the SF Payette along Staircase burning from Skinny Dipper Hot Spring to Banks. Fireman9500 is right that there has been some wood moving around due to trees coming down from the fire, but as of yesterday there was nothing to be concerned about. Flows are nice right now as the Deadwood was bumped up from 700 cfs to 900 cfs in the last week (and up to 950 two days ago) and the NF was bumped up by almost 200 cfs a few days ago (now near 2000).

- Matt