The Mule Bridge Run is a stunning upstream add-on to the Idlewild Run when flows allow. A dirt road parallels the run on river right but is usually out-of-sight and the run feels wild, like a river that has just flowed from the wilderness. Mostly the domain of kayaks, IKs, and packrafts, it is possible to navigate in a small raft when flows are high.
This run is set in a small gorge with frequent views of tall snow-clad peaks in winter and spring. The riverbed is bouldery and rapids are generally Class III with a couple steeper IV- surprises thrown in. Some rapids are chunky and bumpy, even at higher flows and encroaching willows sometimes narrow the usable width of channel. Be sure to watch for wood in the river: the 2017 Wallow Fire has increased the amount of wood moving through the river system in this zone.
The water is cold up here in winter and spring, fresh out of the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area where it was likely in frozen form not long ago. The put-in is close to 3,000 feet elevation and winter stream temps can be as low as 38ºF (3.3ºC). Besides the potential for being cold, the water here is simply magical. Much of the time it is transparent emerald green and as clean and pure as water gets. Prepare for a baptismal experience.
Flows
The flows on this run don't always correlate well to the USGS gage on the Salmon River, located nearly 40 miles downstream. You may find it higher or lower than you expect; it all depends on rainfall and melt patterns, but the Salmon River gage is still the best indicator of flow available.
This run is in at medium flows between 5,000 and 7,000 cfs but has a wider range of runnable flows, particularly on the upper end of that range.
Use the public phone at the Idlewild Campground fee station to get the latest gage reading from
Waterline 1-800-452-1737 and enter 063221 to get the Salmon River at Somes Bar gage reading (use 063492 if you're heading over the mountain to paddle the Scott River next). By the time you're at the river, however, you'll have a better read on actual flows just by looking.
Logistics
*Put-in*
Put in at the
Mule Bridge Trailhead at the end of US Forest Service road 41N37, the dirt road that goes upriver from the Idlewild Campground (which is at the junction of Sawyers Bar Road and the NF Salmon River). It's a 2.4 mile riverside drive with one short rocky section that is usually passable by any vehicle but may require moving rocks. Put in on the downstream river right side of the green Mule Bridge.
*Take-out*
Unless you're continuing downriver thorugh the
Idlewild Run, which is what most boaters do, take out at the Idlewild Campground on river right. There is no clear take-out site at the campground and the vague paths to and from the river are unmarked (the official--and faint--take-out trail departs the campground from the restroom and heads diagonally upstream before turning to reach the river at a tiny cobble beach a couple hundred feet upstream of the Sawyers Bar Road bridge). If you paddle to the Sawyers Bar Road bridge, you went too far and should take out there (which isn't easy).
Camping
There is camping at the put-in, take-out, and also at a few dispersed sites along the 41N37 road between the two. The
Idlewild Campground has awesome riverside camping, a public phone, restroom, water, but no trash receptacles. There is a fee to camp here but, unfortunately, it is sometimes closed and gated for the winter and spring some years (it is open in 2025). The free
Mule Bridge Campground next to the put-in has four basic sites and is rarely used. The free
Red Bank Campground, about 14 miles downriver on the North Fork Salmon near Sawyers Bar Road milemarker 7, is also open all year.
Additional Information
Salmon River Restoration Council's Whitewater Recreation Page - great overview and detail on the whitewater of the Salmon River drainage
Salmon River Hazard Map - map of known hazards in the river and tributaries