Kilpatrick - Waddington Creek

The stretch between Kilpatrick is pretty non-descript.  There are some geological points of interest along the way but nothing much in the way of on-river features to discuss.  It would be good to note the confluences of the various creeks, especially Iron Creek since it is the largest of the side streams in this stretch.

Elk Bend deserves a nice description, especially the generosity of the Elk Bend Fire Department.  Their agreement to help create a RAP here is only a mere 5 years old.

The area with the most potential for extensive description is from Lime Creek down to the Twin Peaks Bridge. The icons for Lime Creek should not show camping.  There is no camping potential there.  Parking is minimal.

What is more interesting about the Lime Creek spot is that it is the upper margin of an enormous ancient debris flow.  There is a Class I-II rapid there that has resulted from remnants of this debris flow being exposed in the river channel.

Down river form lime creek are the largest collection in-channel rocks along The Salmon River from Stanley to North Fork.  The geology of river left is columnar basalt. The rocks in the river are quartzite.  They appear to have been part of the enormous ancient debris flow which presumably broke loose from Gold Bug Ridge towering high above the river to the east.  The geology here is fascinating.  At low flows the rocks can be a tricky navigation hazard and they also deserve discussion from that perspective.  They apepar to be somewhat easier to navigate at higher flows.

Of course, there needs to be some discussion of Dugout Dick.  Even though the BLM has removed all of Dugout Dick's caves BLM efforts are underway to describe and interpret Dugout Dick's life along the river.  The late Mr. Zimmerman trujly deserves some mention in this river guide as well.

Waddington Creek is a very minimalist RAP suitable only for the most "rough & ready" river runners.  It needs to be pointed out the road (if oyu can call it that) into the Waddington Creek area is very steep, rough and slippery even in dry conditions.  Turn around radius is nearly non-existent and only one or two vehicles parked in this area would create potential gridlock for an incoming vehicle and trailer.

As we understand it, the Twin Peaks bridge has some history.  Apparently there was a giant flood in the mid-1950's that washed out the pre-existing bridge (as well as at least one other such bridge).  The Twin Peaks Mine assisted in locating a replacement bridge and was instrumental in getting it installed.  That's the gist of what we have heard.  The story bears further checking and research as it could be quite an interesting vignette.