If you’re curious about Lochsa low water boating and what conditions you can expect this season, you’ve come to the right place. Each year, adventurers ask about the river’s flows and how low water levels affect the overall experience. Even with a lighter winter and lower snowpack, the Lochsa still delivers an exhilarating ride.
Seasonal Flow Expectations
As snowpack levels may be lower compared to historical averages, you might wonder if the Lochsa will still offer great boating opportunities. The answer is a resounding yes! While snowpacks are lower, there is still plenty of snow at high elevations in the Bitterroots that feeds the river. When hot weather coincides with rain, rapid snowmelt can lead to occasional high water days—even if not every trip launches at peak flow.
The Best of Low Water Boating on the Lochsa
Low water conditions can actually enhance your boating experience:
Unique Rapids: Some rapids, like Brain Wave in Grim Reaper Rapid, reveal unique features only at lower flows (7000 to 9000 cfs) that vanish when water levels rise.
Enhanced Technique: Rapids can become more technical at lower flows, requiring teamwork and precise maneuvering. This adds an extra layer of excitement and challenge.
A More Controlled Ride: While the water might not be as “big and crunchy,” the Lochsa still offers an action-packed, big water feel—perfect for those looking to stay safely in their rafts.
What to Expect on Your Lochsa Trip
Whether you’re joining a guided trip or navigating the river on your own, here’s what you can expect during a low water season:
Warmer Weather: Enjoy milder conditions that make the day even more enjoyable.
Varied Launch Locations: Outfitters may adjust launch spots to keep trips engaging and within a manageable time frame.
Big Waves & Skillful Navigation: The Lochsa demands respect and skill, ensuring that every trip is as thrilling as ever.
Why You Should Embrace Lochsa Low Water Boating
Despite the buzz around lower snowpack and water flows, the Lochsa remains a premier destination for whitewater enthusiasts. The river’s unique characteristics during low water levels mean that you’ll still experience those unforgettable moments and challenges. This season, don’t let negative forecasts stop you from planning your adventure!
Winter boating offers a unique opportunity to enjoy quiet waters, challenge yourself in a new environment, and relish the beauty of nature during colder months. This article is designed to provide winter boating advice that covers essential gear, safety tips, and practical strategies to help you stay warm, comfortable, and safe on the water. Whether you’re a seasoned paddler or trying winter boating for the first time, read on for tips that will prepare you for an unforgettable seasonal experience.
Embrace the Tranquility of Winter Boating
Spring flows and Summer floats are right around the corner. If you are a boater, you know this, and are likely getting excited thinking and dreaming. What pieces of gear you may need to upgrade or repair, what lines or rivers you may want to explore, or how excited you are about your first Middle Fork Permit. But this write up is not meant to go into the many details of the Spring boating season or your first multi day trip. Rather, it is meant to explore an intermediary, a temporary solution that many boaters are starting to need right about now.
Winter boating, to me, is that solution. It is somewhat of a different animal in some of the best ways, and in others, some of the scariest. Here are five tips to make your entry into winter boating a bit more comfortable, safe, and fun.
Winter boating can be so peaceful and beautiful
Winter Boating Advice
Perhaps this is the season to avoid the big stuff.
Getting on the water in the winter can be a great time to shake the rust off and just enjoy quiet time on your favorite sections of water (many of which normally have a constant cacophony of voices ricocheting down the sections like the Alberton Gorge). Treat the cold water and weather for what it is. Boat for the joy of it, knowing that this may not necessarily be the time to push the big, consequential lines that have a high chance of sending you swimming. Be extra cautious of hypothermia, and double down on the idea of dressing for the swim, not the weather.
Dress for Success: Layer Up and Stay Warm
Winter boating is so peaceful and tends to reignite that love of whitewater that may have been dormant while chasing powder turns and hockey pucks. But it should be viewed as more hazardous, both for yourself, and for any potential rescuers. My general rule of thumb is to dress so that I can stay in the for a minimum of 30 minutes completely comfortably. Dry suits (here for women’s suits) are not just a comfort for boating in the winter, but a mandatory piece of gear for cold water boating. There are many myths about air and water temperature, but the bottom line is that if it is cold water, be prepared for immersion and layer appropriately. My personal cold water layering list: Under my dry suit I wear 2-3 thick fleece layers, 1 lighter moisture wicking layer, and double, sometimes triple wool socks. I use NRS HydroSkin Socks on the outside of my dry suit to protect the booties and add extra warmth. All this insulation for my feet necessitates having a winter set of wet shoes just for my dry suit. In my dry bag I bring along an additional thick layer, a puffy jacket, ski gloves, NRS Maverick waterproof Neoprene gloves, sunscreen, extra wool socks, a warm beanie, a few high calorie snack bars, and a rain shell. Additional Tip: the rain shell is great to eliminate evaporative cooling. Wear it through the whitewater sections and remove it when the sun hits you, or when you get done with the splashes for the day.
Gear Check: Optimize Your Equipment
Perhaps you have a winter helmet that has ear protection and more insulation. Perhaps you have a PFD you prefer because it has fleece lined hand warming pockets. Whatever your gear and preferences may look like, this is the time of year to double check and re-think whether something is important to have with you on the water. This is the time of year to take extra time to evaluate why something may or may not be needed in your kit. Extra fleece hats and heavily insulated ski gloves may not be in every normal boating kit, but these are definitely nice, perhaps even necessary, for boating in the winter. Leave the sunscreen in your winter kit, remembering that you can still get sunburnt from snow/water glare with no protection. Fully waterproof gloves are great as well, but be warned- once your neoprene gloves are wet, they will likely remain wet for the rest of the day. Keep them in your dry bag for when you get chilly, unless you plan on wearing them all day.
Nutrition on the Water: Fuel Your Adventure
Food. All of the food.
Having something to eat can make all of the difference between a lovely day and a harrowing brush with hanger. Your caloric intake will need to be higher as your body is working to keep you warm, so bring some extra snacks. I love bringing a 64 oz Hydro Flask of hot tea as well, as it’s a glorious treat on those shady afternoons when you are starting to get chilled. Bring along warm food if possible, but warm or cold extra snacks will help keep you warm and comfortable, as well as stay safe. Proper caloric intake enables you to think clearly, and to deal more effectively with stressful situations and emergencies.
Safety First: Prioritize Your Well-Being
This will seem like a reiteration, and to be fair, it is. But safety of you and your party is the number one thing to pay attention to. If the weather seems like it may cause problems, perhaps wait until the next sunny day. If the flows are spiking above your comfort level, winter is not the time to push that comfort level. Have an evacuation plan and a hypo kit, especially if you are in a remote setting. Have extra gear for your friends and yourself. After all, you would rather have an extra set of gloves than deal with a horrific upstream wind that results in frostbite without them.
Winter Boating can and should be fun. There are many things to note about staying safe, comfortable, and therefore happy on winter boating trips. These are just a few, and this is in no way an exhaustive effort to cover all safety tips. Hopefully though, this will help get you started, or serve as a reminder should you already be a winter boating fanatic.
Ian staying warm, and thus very happy, on a recent lap.
We just got out to get some winter laps in ourselves, and we sure are getting excited for the upcoming season around here. Visit www.zootownsurfers.com to get your booking secured for the season.
Stay safe and warm out there, and I hope to see you on the water soon!
What an honor it is to be writing this and introducing ourselves to all of our future friends, employees, coworkers, partners and customers. Megan and I are so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do what we love to do, serve our community, as well as educate and find stewards, or build upon existing ones. This truly is a dream come true. First, we must thank Jason Shreder again for this opportunity. We will do everything we can to ensure the continued growth and prosperity of the business you started, my friend. Thank you. I will try to keep this brief, but I am not known for that talent. Here is a bit about us, and our journey to Zoo Town Surfers.
Our Love for the Water
Ever since I was young, I have been fascinated and drawn to water. I have a picture floating around somewhere of me, around 2 years old, standing next to some rafts my parents had rented for a Green River multiday. Since then, water and rafting has been in my blood.
I grew up never being able to get out the ocean, spending much of every summer in Southern California with family. The same was true when I was home in Idaho on it’s rivers and lakes; I was the first one in the water, and the last one out, and that much of me at least, largely remains true to this day.
Megan similarly always loved the water. She grew up snowboarding on the frozen kind, and playing on the wet kind in various river and fishing trips with her family in Alaska. Her love of rivers grew dramatically when she hopped on her first multiday trip with me back in college on the Lower Gorge of the Salmon River. Since then, she’s taken every opportunity to be on the water. The Lochsa is one of her favorite places on the planet, and in her words, where she “truly fell in love with rivers.”
Our Journey to Ownership
Seven years ago, Megan asked me whether or not I would ever want to own an outfitting business. My work in guiding on the Salmon and Hells Canyon led me to work as a rep for the absolutely wonderful folks at Northwest River Supplies (NRS), so the question of owning a river business came up pretty frequently. My answer was invariably; it depends on the business. I would not want to do it for the wrong reasons, and I would want to structure a company that I would be happy to guide at.
One that focuses on guide voice, stewardship, individual and professional growth, and sharing our incredible rivers with those that do not get to experience them as often as we do. One example of this type of business came up as a general answer to Megans question; if Jason Shreder ever decided to sell, that would be a business worth purchasing. As luck would have it; 7 years, a few moves, and many river trips later, as well as right place at the right time and some good friends, would lead us to start the process of purchasing Zoo Town Surfers.
Our Commitment to the Community
We could tell from the get-go that Shreder’s involvement in the community and his passion for his business was incredible. He built this business from the ground up, and we want to continue the traditions, hard work, and community care and involvement that he set the foundations of ZTS on. That seemed a daunting task at first, but it has become much more achievable and exciting as we have seen how much love and support has been built around ZTS. Our promise to you is this: We will continue to grow ZTS into a community minded, inclusive, and safe place where any and all can experience the river.
I am always available via email at ian@zootownsurfers.com, and phone at 208-310-2253. I would love the opportunity to introduce myself over a cup of coffee or a beer, please feel free to reach out! Thank you all for taking the time to read this far, and we hope to see you on the river!
The excitement is real as we welcome the Zoo Town Surfers new owners – Megan and Ian Fodor-Davis. For those who have been a part of this incredible journey, you know that Zoo Town Surfers (ZTS) is more than just a youth kayaking club. It’s a community built on adventure, passion, and the thrill of the river.
A Journey Remembered
One of my favorite memories from ZTS is when me and Scott Doherty hopped in the old, silver World Class Kayak Academy van with some local teenagers from Missoula and travelled north to Canada and all the way up to BC, topping it off with some world class surf at Skookumchuck Rapids. The van smelled worse than a football locker room, and our gear would repel anyone that came close. Life was simple and all we cared about was kayaking and paddling hard. That was what ZTS was – A youth kayaking club with a bunch of dirtbags that liked kayaking a lot. We all had plenty of spirit and it worked for us.
From Humble Beginnings to a Thriving Community
Scott (co-founder) and I always had plans to grow it into something bigger and we certainly did. I never imagined ZTS would be where it’s at today. For years, I have tried to answer the question of what the ZTS experience is but have always had a hard time putting my finger on it. There have been so many times after long days where I found myself wondering, “how on earth did we do that”. What makes it special are the guest, the guides, friends, family, countless mishaps, laughter, tears, joy, flat tires, and lost pieces of gear. Looking back, some of the more challenging days/moments are the most memorable ones.
Embracing a New Chapter
My only goal when I started ZTS was to create a business that would allow me to kayak 250+ days of the year. I accomplished that goal for many years paddling hard and living my life to the fullest. The desire to spend as much time on the river with my family and friends is stronger than ever and there is a sense of urgency burning inside me.
I’m excited to announce that there are new owners of Zoo Town Surfers, Megan and Ian Fodor-Davis. Over the last 10 years, I have had the opportunity to build a friendship with Ian and Megan and I can assure you they are going to continue what we started and take the “ZTS Experience” to the next level.
Thank You, Missoula
Words can’t describe the experiences and memories I have in my heart from running ZTS for all these years. I’m most thankful for the friendships. Missoula – you have had my back since day one and I love you for that.
If you’re searching for local gifts for kayakers this holiday season, you’re in the right place! Whether it’s Christmas or a birthday, finding the perfect present for outdoors-focused friends and family is easier when you support small businesses and talented guides.
Explore this short list of guide-made and guide-owned gift ideas that celebrate the spirit of adventure on the water. Happy Holidays!
Funluvin’ Fleecewear by Kelli O’Keefe
What to Love:
Fun & functional fleece layers perfect for river adventures
Essential pieces like the Funluvin’ skirts, featuring funky patterns and memorable styles
