Colt Killed Creek (aka White Sands Creek), Idaho

This river is awesome! A big stream in a rugged roadless canyon.

Hiked up the 50 trail nearly to Storm Creek. The upper 5 miles are non-stop big water class III, with some sections approaching class IV at current flows. Quite pushy. Rapids are clean, but serious potential for long swims as the gradient is continuous and pools non-existent. The lower 5 miles down to the confluence with the Crooked Fork are fun, fast class II, with occasional holes and breaking waves.

There is enough water in the river right now to make this run worth doing in a full-size raft; probably running between 2000 and 2500 cfs. As the level drops over the next couple weeks the upper section will become a real delight for packrafts. Tons of potential for multi-day hike/packraft loops. Would also be a great way to end a traverse of the northern end of the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness. Some of the tribs are likely packraftable; see Amaral’s Idaho whitewater book for more info.