Timelines and Preferences - More Travel and Times Discussion

Okay so there has been some talk about vehicles. Lou has provided some info and an email to me about the drive, how long and routes. Lou's rig will be going through Boise to pickup those that are flying in. The rest will probably go directly to the put in. Arriving late is fine but the final stretch of road to the put in sounds desolate and dark and we want to get on the water early on Saturday. Hopefully 8ish. Here is what I know about the routes.

Going via Boise:This route according to Google Maps is a little under 10 hours. According to Lou is about 12 hours.

Return Via Boise [15 hours]:This is the route Lou will be taking in Big Red since he'll have peeps to drop a the air port. All the routes look pretty similar in time so I guess the big question is preference. I suppose each car load could make up their own minds.

Return Via Spokane [13 hours]: This is a long road home but it's what Google Maps provides. The route is through Missoula MT and then Spokane. Probably get on the road same day as the take out and camp/hotel in Spokane.

Return via blue highways through Walla Walla [14 hours]: This route seems to cut a little distance and time off of the Spokane route above but who knows. Smaller, twistier roads vs Freeway. Looks nice though.

Another item that has come up is departure times. I think most people will have Friday off due to the holiday. If not... uh that sucks! I've put together a little survey to get an idea of how many people are leaving at given times. Lou is leaving early on Friday because he has to pickup rafters at the air port in Boise at particular times. Other vehicles can depart whenever within reason, though it'd be nice to convoy. Ideally we'd like to keep the number of vehicles down to three. Three vehicles should be plenty of seating for this group. The tough part is managing schedules, routes etc. That's what I'm trying to do here but adding another vehicle adds more to fuel, shuttling etc.

Also it would be nice to know what the need for tents is rather than end up with ten tents!!! According to Lou sleeping under the stars is an option though the first couple nights it's probably gonna be pretty cold at the starting elevations. If we could bring a few larger tents and bunk up that would probably be best and minimize load.

I'll be sending out a questionnaire to everyone on the list to get an idea about all this. Please fill it out and submit. All the info will go into a spreadsheet and will be easier to deal with than 20 emails with 100 followup joke emails!!!

UPDATE: Additional notes from Lou...

I’m going through Boise (as we all have to) but will be picking up the boise overnight people (arrive in boise on Thurs evening). There is later group arriving in Boise at 6:45 roughly that need to be picked up also … (this corresponds to about a 11am departure from Portland).

12 hours was leaving at noon, loss of 1 hour time change, Dan re-entering the highway back to Portland after fill of gas (lost 20 minutes there) and stop for food and gas again in Boise.

There is a small town before the turnoff I think it was about 10pm when we drove through. There is info somewhere on which mile marker to turn at it just looked like a dirt road to the north … I think the drive down the turnoff was about 20 minutes but it was late [and] I don’t remember exactly. All I remember was we were driving down a road at about 50mph I think there was a cliff to the left and we almost hit about 10 deer.