So you’re planning a rafting trip on the Salmon River—congratulations, you’re going to have the best time! You’re probably looking forward to days spent out on the water, soaking up the sunshine and hanging out with your best friends, stopping to fish or just to explore the beautiful Frank Church Wilderness, and nights spent cooking burgers around a campfire. Rafting trips are a heck of a lot of fun once you’re actually at your home base on the river, but there are quite a few logistics involved in getting you (and all your gear) there. This article will walk you through what it looks like to jet back on the Salmon River, and how to find the right transportation to get your group to where you need to go.

Want to learn more about the history of the Salmon River? Check out our guide to the Best Historic Stops Along Idaho’s Salmon “River Of No Return”.
Jet Back 101
What is a jet up?
In order to understand what a jet back is, you also need to know what jet up is: a jet up takes your rafting group up the river to Corn Creek the day before or the day of your launch. You’ll then float back to your vehicles at the Carey Creek take out. Jet ups are a fun way to start your rafting trip, and give you the opportunity to see what you’ll be rafting. This is helpful if you’re unfamiliar with floating the Salmon River.
What is a jet back?
On the opposite end of things, a jet back happens at the end of your trip and takes your group back up the river to your gear at Corn Creek. This takes stress off of you and your vehicles as you won’t need to worry about having them shuttled around to Carey Creek —all you’ll have to do is prepare for us to arrive (instructions for that are further down in this article). Jet backs are a fun and easy way to end your trip.

How Water Levels Affect Jet Backs on the River
Water levels can impact our ability to jet up or jet back, so let’s talk about what jet ups and jet backs look like during high and low water on the Salmon.
High Water vs. Low Water
To much water isn’t a factor in our ability to be on the river. What does stop us from operating is debris in the water. There is usually debris in the water for a few days when the river is peaking. We usually see two high water spikes in the spring—one around the end of May, and one in the middle of June.
Trips to Corn Creek also come to a halt at a certain point in the summer due to Black Creek rapid. We’re able to safely operate jet backs until about 1.5 feet at the Corn Creek boat ramp, or 12,000 CFS at White Bird. In a normal year, we can usually jet up and jet back through the second week of July, but that’s of course dependent on snowpack and spring temperatures.

Having a Backup Plan
Because water levels affect our ability to operate, we strongly encourage you to have a backup plan for peak high water dates and July dates. If the water level is dropping quickly, we’ll err on the side of caution and cancel before you launch. We’ll refund any trip that we’re not able to do because of water level. When we cancel, we do not shuttle vehicles or make any transportation arrangements on your behalf. It is your responsibility to have a back up plan in place. Here are some shuttle and flight companies to look into:
Car Shuttle Companies
Flights


Load Capacity for Jet Ups & Jet Backs
You might be wondering: how many people (and how much equipment) can we actually carry for you?
Our boat has a maximum load capacity of 5,000 pounds. We have a single boat permit, but if your group exceeds our boat’s capacity, then we can arrange a second boat through another outfitter. We’re also dog-friendly for well-behaved dogs, so you can bring your four-legged friends along for the ride—just keep in mind that dogs do count toward your weight limit.
Jet Up Load Capacity
Jet ups are significantly heavier than jet backs, since your coolers will be loaded with ice and all the food and drinks for your trip. The number of people and/or rafts that can fit per boat is relative, but on a jet up, 5,000 pounds roughly equals 12 people & 3 rafts, OR up to 20 people with personal bags. For reference, a raft kit usually weighs around 1,000 pounds at the beginning of a trip, so that’ll take up about a fifth of your load capacity.
Jet Back Load Capacity
Jet backs are a lot lighter than jet ups, since your coolers are empty and food will be gone. On a jet back 5,000 pounds roughly equals 12 people & 3-4 rafts, OR up to 20 people with personal bags. For reference, a raft kit usually weighs around 900 pounds at the end of a trip.

How to Prepare for a Jet Up or Jet Back
Now how exactly do you prepare your group and equipment for a jet up or jet back?
Packing your Gear
When you’re packing, be sure to communicate with each other. Eliminate duplicate items as much as possible; weight matters, and there’s no reason to bring stuff you don’t actually need. Here are some types for preparing your gear for loading:
- All rafts should be deflated and rolled up. If you have any frames that are over 16 feet long, those should be broken in half.
- Water containers must be empty, and coolers should have any standing water drained out.
Loading your Gear
For jet ups, make sure you’re stacking your gear in a place with minimum current that has 3 feet of water, 10-15 feet out from the bank. For jet backs, make sure you’re stacking your gear on the boat ramp in a respectful way. We can’t take up the entire ramp, as other outfitters and groups will likely be using the ramp as well.
It’s help if you arrange your gear on the river bank in the correct order. Gear typically goes into the boat in this order: oars and frames are loaded first, followed by coolers and dry boxes. Dry bags and pads go on top.

Logistics of Planning a Rafting Trip on the Salmon River
Trip Times
Pick up for your jet up or jet back has to be between 7:00-9:00 AM Mountain Time, as leaving any later makes the drive back fairly difficult for the driver—afternoons on the river have poor visibility and high amounts of rafting traffic. And yes, we operate on Mountain Time, so don’t get that confused with the part of the Salmon that’s located in the Pacific Time Zone.
Boating from Carey Creek to Corn Creek takes about 3.5 hours, but it can take longer if the river has a lot of traffic on it. The Vinegar Creek boat ramp is 27 miles up the Main Salmon River from Riggins. While Vinegar Creek doesn’t have camping space, there are numerous dispersed campsites before Vinegar Creek, that can be used if you are jetting up.


Jet Up Logistics
Let’s go through a few important logistics you’ll need to know about your jet up on the Salmon River.
The Vinegar Creek boat ramp was made for jet boats, and is a lot easier to load from than Carey Creek. However, parking at Vinegar Creek is limited and we ask jet ups to shuttle their vehicles down river to Carey Creek.
Because the Carey Creek boat ramp is too shallow to pull a jet boat onto, jet ups leaving from Carey Creek will have to haul their gear upriver through the rocks, to load the boat in deeper water. A better option is to unload gear at Vinegar Creek, and then shuttle vehicles to Carey Creek as the boat ramps are only 3 miles apart.
You won’t need to worry about filling your water jugs beforehand and hauling them up river; water jugs can be filled at Corn Creek. Keep in mind that we’re also required to collect the Forest Service Rec fee of $4 per person on jet ups, but for jet backs this fee is included in your rafting permit.

Jet Back Logistics
Jet backs are most often picked up at the group’s last camp, meaning they don’t have to float all the way back to Carey Creek. A few popular last camp jet back locations include:
- Johnson Creek
- Maxwell Bar (hard to load from during high water)
- California Creek
- Rabbit Creek
If your group does want to float to Carey Creek, we’ll pick you up across the river at the Wind River Campsite, as the Carey Creek boat ramp isn’t great for loading.
Water levels will also dictate which camps we can pick up at—we are able to pick up at most camps before the end of June, but after June, you should avoid camps such as Swimming Hole and Upper Bull Creek. Remember that when you’re choosing a place to prepare your gear for jet back loading, you’ll want to choose a place that has the least amount of current, with at least 3 feet of water, 10-15 feet out from the bank.


Salmon River Etiquette
Lastly, we wanted to give you a few quick pieces of information about river etiquette for when your group is rafting on the Salmon River.
Most importantly, a jet boat will yield to a raft group. When groups are spread out, it adds up to a lot of time waiting on the end of the jet boat, so your raft group should stay together whenever possible. It’s best practice to stay in the current if you are passing a jet boat, since the jet boat will yield to you.
However, note that jet boats need to be under power when they are loaded and they can’t always stop for rafting traffic. Shallow water and rapids are two places where a jet boat can’t stop, so be mindful if you’re in those areas with your group. It is also worth mentioning that jet boats produce less of a wake when they are on step vs. idling by. There are times when its better for a jet boat to pass a raft on step, instead of snowing down and producing a large wake.
Finally, the boat ramps are for everyone to use. Both jet boats and rafters are expected to be respectful to each other when using the ramp area, and both parties should exit the ramp as soon as possible, not leaving their gear or boats in the loading area. As long as you respect the others around you when using the ramp, they should do the same for you.

Salmon River Jet Up and Jet Back Charters
Ready to book your jet up and jet back for your Salmon River rafting trip? Learn more about our shuttles and get pricing information here—we can’t wait to help your group have the adventure of a lifetime.