Strauch/Bruno Web Photo Album

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Email us Tom, Laura, Matt or Kelsey. Search all the photo pages.

8/6-9&17-21/2026 Picked up Kelsey and Ryan after flying in from New York at the Boise airport and then met Chris and Gail at Bittercreek Alehouse in downtown Boise for late lunch; Ryan's friend Sara and family also met us at the Alehouse; Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho with Addy, Liz, Tim L, Kelsey, Ryan, Janet, Tim S, Chris, Gail and Lin; since Tom broke his foot, we did not do the backpack and just car camped at Pettit Lake at a dispersed campsite LIn saved for us; Janet and Tim S did day hike 13 miles 2000 feet up to Alice Lake which was our planned first 2 nights for the backpack; Yellowbelly Lake hike 2.5 miles 200 feet with with Addy, Liz, Tim L, Kelsey, Ryan, Janet and Tim S; swimming at Redfish Lake Sand Beach with everyone; very interesting ranger talk (actually the talk was given by a history professor from Idaho State University) at Stanley Museum on George Washington Blackmon, a Black mining pioneer who came to Idaho in the late 1870s; Mountain Village hot springs in Stanley with Addy, Liz, Ryan and Kelsey; Chris and Gail had us all in for homemade pesto and pasta dinner at Lin's place in Obsidian; excellent breakfast at Stanley Baking Company; cool old mining town Custer Ghost Town with everyone 20 miles north of Stanley; Yankee Fork Gold Dredge and museum right outside of Custer, another cool mining thing; celebrated with Smokey the Bear on his 82nd birthday with a birthday cake and ranger talk at Redfish Visitor Center Amphitheater; afternoon swim at Pettit Lake with everyone; third ranger talk of the trip on wolverines, very cool animals at Redfish Visitor Center Amphitheater; drop Kelsey and Ryan back at Boise airport and drive home; Bridgette comes for a visit and we took a trip to the coast with lunch at the Sea Hag in Depot Bay; Kelsey as a showgirl for a gig in Rhode Island, Google Photos

7/7&14&21&23-28/2026 Middle Pyramid hike 4.5 miles 1800 feet near Santiam Pass; 49th wedding anniversary enjoying dinner at Da Vinci's restaurant in Salem; camp at Diamond Lake with Leslie before the hike; Mt Scott hike 4.6 miles 1300 feet in Crater Lake National Park with Leslie and lunch at the Crater Lake Lodge; Laura's 77th birthday with special dinner at home; Pechuck Lookout hike 5.7 miles 1800 feet near the Mollala River; 5 day raft trip down the Selway River in Idaho at low water with Erin, Kevin, Jason and Tim (thanks to Erin, Kevin and Jason for the Selway photos since I lost my phone on the river), Google Photos

Tom's Selway Raft Trip log

Wednesday July 23 left after having dinner with Laura and drove to rest area pass Tri-Cities sleeping in the back of the Outback.

Thursday July 23 woke up at dawn and drove to put-in arriving at 1:30pm. Stopped at West Fork and Magruder Ranger stations and secured 2 campsites at Paradise Creek for the 5 of us. Tim, Kevin, Jason and Erin arrived around 5:30pm with Jason's truck and trailer and all the rafting gear. We rigged the rafts at the put-in for the Selway River then had dinner at the campsite. I talked to the rangers at the Paradise Creek Ranger Station which had a new roof and new windows making it like the historical original design. A commercial trip left around noon but otherwise we were the only other trip launching as far as we could tell.

Friday July 24 finished rigging and got off around 9am. The river level is very low at .8 feet at Paradise and we spent a lot of time and strength pushing thru rock gardens in Steve's 12 foot Cataraft which Kevin and I shared, Tim's 13 foot Puma raft with Kevin or me, Jason's 13 foot raft and Erin's pack raft which had no problem with the rock gardens. We pushed thru all the low level rock gardens and class 2 and class 3 rapids. Camped at a very nice Mile 11 campsite Goat Creek around 4:30pm. Everyone was pretty tired after pushing off rocks all day so it was nice to relax with a cold beer and dinner.

Saturday July 25 got off early at 8am, scouted and ran our first class 4 rapid Goat Creek. We all did fine. Erin saw a black bear and cub drinking from the river. The Cataraft got a slow leak on the right tube from the wood seat corner which Jason patched on the fly very quickly with tear-aid tape. We put guerilla tape on top of the tear-aid tape for more protection. Just class 2 and 3s today but still plenty of rocks to push off of. Got into camp early around 2:30pm. Another nice campsite Mile 21 Rattlesnake Bar but no rattlesnakes that we could find.

Sunday July 26 a lot of class 4 rapids which means a lot of time scouting. We did a 4 mile scouting hike on the pack trail river right where we could scout a series of the class 4 rapids. It was hard to remember all the moves we had to make but we all made it thru them fine. Tim got knocked out of his raft and Erin flipped her pack raft but both recovered fine. Jason rescued Erin and her raft and Tim crawled back to his boat that was stuck on a rock with Kevin on board. I got my left foot stuck and bruised between the Cataraft and a rock when trying to push it off. Ladle rapid is a class 4 crazy rock garden that we snuck on the very right getting stuck on multiple rocks. We could not imagine this at high water. Never seen a rapid with so many large rocks everywhere. A long tiring day and the cold beers at the end in our campsite were key, getting in after 6pm. This was our least favorite campsite Lower Cedar Flats at Mile 30. The Cataraft right tube was leaking again.

Monday July 27 we did a better patch job this time pulling the Cataraft on land to work on it so we got a little late start around 9am. Tim and I started off with a bang flipping twice on 2 class 3 rapids Meeker and Osprey. I lost my iphone on the first flip. I put it in my day dry bag on the class 4 rapids but not for class 3 ones. Jason, Erin and Kevin all helped us recover from the flips. We all worked well as team. As we approached Wolf Creek class 4 rapid there were plumes of smoke and fire right next to the river. We talked to a NF fire fighter and their crew was just observing the fire since it was a natural fire in a wilderness area. We also caught up briefly with the commercial group that left the day before us. Very heavy smoke in the area. Kevin and I did not want to run the Cataraft thru Wolf Creek class 4 rapid after scouting the rapid. I had already swum two rapids after the flips so we decided to line the Cataraft on the left side of the rapid. I had never done that before and it was fun with a group effort. Erin found a huge toad in the rocks there too. She was great at finding all sore of nature things including plants, beetles and insects. Of course that is her profession too with US Fish and Wildlife. It was almost 7pm by the time we got to camp and we were all beat. Nice campsite Ballinger at Mile 39.5 for our last night on the river.

Tuesday July 28 our last day on the river we got an early 8am start and had our last class 4 rapid Jims Creek right away. After scouting Jason, Erin and me all decided to sneak it on the left while Tim took the main flow thru the middle. We all made it thru fine. Just one more class 3 rapid and the rest class 2. Made it to the take-out by 12:15pm. Derigged the rafts and i got off on my way home by 2pm. Very smoking the whole trip and even on the drive back until we got to Oregon when the air cleared up and the weather was much cooler. Arrived at home 10:45pm for a nice hot bath. We had a great trip with a great team.

Wednesday July 29 made an appointment at urgent care and had my bruised left foot x-rayed. I fractured my first metatarsal by my big toe and they put me in a walking boot. Sounds like in takes a couple months before I can hike and bike again. Still the trip was worth it!