Jarbidge Falls Oil Painting

copyright Booth Malone

For those of you that don't know, my father Joe Tonsmeire went to school at Auburn University. While attending Auburn he became part of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He made many lasting friendships while at Auburn and within Phi Delta Theta. With his passing in 2007, some of his college/fraternity brothers set up the Joe Tonsmeire Leadership Scholarship Fund. This scholarship will be presented to a student each year. That person will be selected based on traits that resemble those of Joe Tonsmeire, a true leader for one. Booth Malone was one of those college friends. Since his college days, he has become a renown oil paint artist. He painted a portrait of my dad running Jarbidge Falls in 2006. The painting turned out amazing. He is selling prints to raise money for the scholarship fund. My family went to Auburn this last weekend to be a part of the unveiling of the painting. Booth presented the original to our family and a print to be left hanging in Phi House. He is selling prints for $200 and there are limited prints with only 125 printed.

photo: Purcie Bennett

The photo that the portrait was painted from, was taken by Purcie Bennett. A long time WRO client and friend. There is also a short video on our webpage of his run through Jarbidge Falls that day.

Also, I figured I would share a poem that my sister wrote about our dad:

With the pace of a mountain goat and the heart of Lion, he never stopped living – he’d rather die trying;

From the top of McKinley or thru raging falls, he’s riding the range and shooting the stars;

The River it called and the trail it began, and the wind always whispered to this special man;

A figure of love, and passion and grace, blue dancing eyes and a smile on his face;

I wonder now what we should do or should say; I’ll follow his tracks and cherish each day;

Well the River it called and the trail it began, and the wind always whispered to this special man.

-Amy Tonsmeire

We returned from Alabama to the first snow of winter on the ground at our house. There are still yellow leaves on the trees, but it is starting to feel like winter is just around the corner.

Hope you are having a great day!

Seth Tonsmeire

Missouri & Texas meet Idaho

New friends are easy to come by one the river. Thanks for such a great trip Curtis and Josh!

River Discovery!

Sam Myers and crew in Salmon Falls

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

River Discovery is non-profit that was started a few years back to provide cancer survivors with an opportunity to experience a river trip. There are two trips each year at this point, one for adults and one for kids. Many of the participants on these trips would never be able to take a trip like this if it was not for a program like River Discovery. River Discovery provides this trip free of charge for all participants. I was recently lucky to help put on the adult trip in early September. These trips are very special for everyone that is evolved. For all the participants it is a week to just get out in the wilderness, experience nature, and most importantly have fun! For a cancer surviver, spending a week with other people in the outdoors who have also battled cancer and can easily relate with each other has shown to be a powerful experience. The trip puts smiles on the faces of everyone evolved.

Nice Sunny Salmon River Day

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Magpie Creek

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

I brought the GoPro video camera along for the River Discovery trip on the Main Salmon. I was saving my batteries for the best rapid day, but unfortunately it turned out to be a cool and cloudy day. I still got some action shots of some of the rapids. The boom camera mount that I made for the boat makes for a cool perspective of the raft in the rapids. I pieced together a little video of some of the action shots. You can check this video out on YouTube!

Fred and Alice soaking in Barth Hot Springs

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

These trips are made possible by fundraising by River Discovery. If you would be interesting in helping out this great non-profit with a donation, every bit helps work toward putting together these great trips. Donations can be made here! To learn more about this great program, visit the River Discovery website!

Kelley and Kim enjoying Magpie Creek

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Group Shot!

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

If you would like to check out more photos of this great trip, they are available on our Flickr gallery!

Hope you are having a great day!

Seth Tonsmeire

Turning the Corner...

Elosie stepping off into the Marble pool!

Middle Fork Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Dusk on the Middle Fork

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Tappan Falls ducky action!!!

Middle Fork Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

In the Idaho river running world, "turning the corner" refers to running the Middle Fork Salmon then continuing down the Main Salmon. This makes for a great 11-day, 185-mile wilderness journey the the heart of Idaho. This is one of the longest wilderness runs in the west. Starting high in the Mountains at Boundary creek launch site at 6000 ft. At this elevation the forest is alpine, made up of lots a fir trees, lodge-pole pine, and more dense and lush vegetation. Over the next 185 miles you make you way down into the Mountain deserts to near 2000 ft. Around Indian creek on the Middle Fork you start to see the transition into a slightly different climate. Ponderosa Pines start to become to dominate vegetation on the landscape. From there to the end of the Main Salmon, you can watch slight changes in the landscapes as you float through the majestic Ponderosa Forests of central Idaho.

Justin and Jeremy getting after some s'mores

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Cousins battling it out "king of the ducky" style!

Main Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Our Middle Fork and Main trip dates line up in a manner that you can float around the corner and continue your journey down the Main Salmon that same day. There is a switch for some fresh coolers and dry boxes filled with new food. Most people end their Middle Fork trip at Cache Bar. For those people, that 6-days is not enough, Cache Bar is just a mid-point stop and re-supply. Myself and Matt turn to corner a couple weeks ago, and it was a reminder for me of what a great 11-day trip it makes. We were the only ones to go the full 11-days, so we switched groups and other guides. For me it was great, a true Idaho river experience. Two great rivers and two great groups of people all in 11 days, its hard to beat that!

Even though Jimmy did beat Brandon, he still went in the water!

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Grandma and Grandpa Bates enjoying some rapid action!

Main Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Father daughter battle. Lauren had never been camping before! She got right in there for the action, and loved it.

Main Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Beach living, Main Salmon style.

photo: Erik Boomer

Donny, Sherry, and Carson on the Dwyer creek hike.

Main Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Jeremy trying out the rappel.

Main Salmon photo: Seth Tonsmeire

More photos of both the Middle Fork Salmon August 4th and the Main Salmon August 9th can be seen on the WRO flickr photostream. More postings of recent trips coming soon!

Hope your having a great day!

Seth Tonsmeire

More Main Salmon Action

Ducky Couch at Phantom Camp 1st Night

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

I just got back from another great Main Salmon trip. We had a group from Alabama this week. An extended Sharp family who were awesome. That family combined with a father daughter combo, also from Alabama, made for a great group. Tom and Brinkley Hutchings, long time WRO guests, were rowing their own boat this trip. They both did very well on the oars.

Big Mallard Action Shot

photo: Seth Tonsmerie

We had great weather with many highlights for everyone. The kayaks were a big hit with this group. Tom Sharp who kayaked most of the trip did manage to stay in his boat the whole time with no unintentional flips or swims, quite impressive for how he rode perched on the backrest in the kayak. For most of the other kayakers, I think they all got in a swim or two somewhere on the trip.

Black Bear, number 5 of 7 for the trip.

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

We had success with our fly rods at Chamberlin Creek, which was also a big hit. We also caught fish at Mallard Creek. We had intentions was doing more fishing the last afternoon at Bull creek, but the whole group was quickly side tracked, when a Gardner Snake was seen trying to eat a toad. It was an aggressive battle that lasted for some time. I think the snake finally decided that it had bit off more than it could chew and moved on. Everyone was definitely happy to see the toad hop off into the river after the battle. This battle was a very rare sighting and great entertainment for the last night. More photos of the Snake vs. Toad can be seen on our flickr photostream, as well as many other photos from the trip.

Snake vs. Toad (check back for the video of this epic battle)

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Fun was definitely had by all. Next week we have beginner kayakers heading out on the Main Salmon and a good sized group launching on the Middle Fork. Should be a good week here at WRO.

Group Shot

photo: Seth Tonsmeire

Thats all for now. Hope your having a great day!

Seth Tonsmeire