This map shows Lemhi Hole to Tower Rock. The Island Park to Carmen is arguably the most heavily used piece of river described in this guide. Why's that? The water is the most user-friendly for inner tube and flimsy flotation devices.
We have seen some of the sketchiest flotation devices imaginable here. This is THE most popular stretch for kids to run. Sometimes we have been on this stretch where there are people and watercraft spread out in front and behind as far as we can see. On ideal summer days this is a very congested piece of river. This stretch is so safe, it doesn't matter what you are paddling or whether you even know how to paddle--or even have a paddle--you're going to make it OK to Carmen.
The map here is very confusing as regard the irrigation diversion upstream from the Carmen Bridge. We recommend removing any indication that there is a river channel taking off from Lemhi Hole and also veering left up river from the lower diversion. There is only one main river channel in this stretch. Please simplify it and delete those other channels.
The geology of the cliffs here is a fascinating story. We definitely want to introduce Lewis & Clark to this guide at Tower Rock so we'd prefer not to mention their route on top of the cliffs here.
Note that IDFG has spent over $350,000 to date acquiriing land and building a new river access point above Carmen Bridge. The existing access at Carmen Bridge is part of the Access YES program and permission to use the land might be revoked at any time. IDFG will have the new Carmen site finished long before this guide is printed. We recommend focusing usage on the new site rather than the existing Carmen Bridge site.
The diversion below Carmen Bridge is not a threat, it's highly visible and easily avoided. You might mention "stay right" after the diversion. Morgan Bar is pretty easy to spot from the river and there is a nice small eddy and the take out. The discussion on Margan Bar would be on how to find it and where to park and so forth. Once the IDFG Carmen Bridge RAP is fully functional, it's likely that usage of the Morgan Bar RAP will drop significantly as it is well off the highway compared to the new Carmen site.
Thre is a nice Class I riffle below Morgan Bar that deserves mention. There's not much else to discuss until Tower Rock comes into view.
This would be a good piece of geology to discuss. Also this is the place to introduce Lewis & Clark since they were obviously so very right near where the RAP is located. There's lots of potential narrative that can be used for the Tower Rock RAP.
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