Other Whitewater Trips on the Selway River

Lodging in Idaho

Paradise to Meadow Creek Video

The USGS gauge near Lowell is below the take-out near the mouth of the Selway. There is a foot gauge at the put-in that is only a visual inspection gauge. The flow at the put-in can be estimated to be 1/4 to 1/5 the flow at Lowell. There is a nice graph that helps convert the Lowell CFS reading to gauge height at the put-in: http://www.riopharmd.net/pflo/chron/200706Selway/CompareHigh.pdf.

The Forest Service recommends the following levels for most craft:

• Low: 2 ft at Paradise ~ 5,000 cfs at Lowell
• High: 5 ft at Paradise ~ 16,000 cfs at Lowell

You should always call the Ranger Station to get the accurate Paradise gauge height reading. The river can be run at levels outside of this range but it becomes more difficult to do so. Use caution when determining if your crew can navigate this trip.

Put-in: Just south of Darby, MT turn southwest onto West Fork Rd / Hwy 473. If you're coming from the south, you can turn left at Conner Cutoff Rd and then take another left onto West Fork Rd / Hwy 473.

• From the junction of West Fork Rd and Conner Cutoff Rd, continue on West Fork Rd for 11 miles
• Turn Right onto Nez Perce Rd and continue for 16 miles
• As you cross into Idaho, Nez Perce Rd turns into Magruder Corridor / Forest Rd 468. Continue on it for another 15 miles.
• Take a slight left to stay on Magruder Corridor Rd
• Continue onto Forest Rd 6223 and go for another 11 miles. The put-in will be on the left. There is no camping at the put-in but you can drive past the put-in and up the road for a bit and there is a large meadow with nice campsites right on White Cap Creek.

Take-out: From Hwy 12 at Lowell Idaho, turn Southeast onto Selway Road and continue for 19 miles. Just past Selway Falls and Falls Point Road, the take-out will be on your right.