This ancient ponderosa stands at the confluence of #camascreek. It is one of my favorite trees. When it was a sapling the sheepeater natives sat in its shade and sharpened their arrowheads for hunting salmon and other fauna; in the 1860s white and Chinese miners passed it en route to unknown wilderness destinations; in 1879, Capt Bernard’s “sheepeater campaign” met beneath it to ponder their tactics; in the 1890s Charlie Norton, man of nerve, rested here after being mauled by a grizzly; in 1931, Henry Weidner pulled his canoes up to it on the first-ever Middle Fork river trip; in the 1970s, some outfitters started their trips next to this tree after packing guests and gear on horseback down Camas cr and on high water years we tie our rafts to its enormous trunk.
These ancient Ponderosas stand guard over the Little Cr. guard station and were deeply rooted before the US Forest Service was ever imagined. Guide D.K. ponders deep-rooted thoughts at the edge of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
Contact Us at Solitude River Trips
Would you like to see these ancient trees for yourself? Let us take you out on a Middle Fork rafting or Salmon River fly fishing trip. These gems are but a few of the many hidden treasures that await you in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area! Contact us at Solitude River Trips to learn more.
