Northwest Potters:

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"Comet," a WWP15, and "Windsong," a WWP19

Dworshak Reservoir (Idaho) Trip Report
July, 2008

Dworshak Reservoir is located in the Panhandle of Idaho, just north of the town of Orofino. It was constructed across the North Fork of the Clearwater River in 1973, ostensibly for flood control, but also as a large dose of pork. The pork was economic development for Orofino, based upon recreational boating and fishing. It drowned a beautiful canyon, but created an equally beautiful lake, fifty-four miles long, surrounded by forests, with minimal road access and little development.
Unfortunately, the salmon crisis of the nineties found a new use for the waters: to cool the waters of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers, and to flush young salmon downstream. Instead of dumping water from the Snake River dams, used for irrigation and power generation, the Corps prefers to flush Dworshak which doesn't have generators or a large vociferous agriculture lobby. Usually the drawdown starts in July, and leaves a bathtub ring of eighty feet of mud banks by fall, which kills a lot of the recreation benefit.
This year, spring came late, with a slow melt of snow in the mountains. The Clearwater and Snake were running high and cold in July, so Dworshak remained full. A friend and I made the trip July 8-10.
The reservoir is administered by the Corps of Engineers, Web Site: http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/corpsoutdoors/siteMenu.asp?lake_id=105 which has list of recreation sites and an interactive map of the lake. There's a full-service marina at Big Eddy, near Orofino, and launch ramps at Bruce's Eddy. We found Dworshak State Park (Freeman Creek) more convenient to my home in Moscow, but they charge $4/day for vehicle access. There are free launch ramps at Dent Acres and Grandad, farther up the lake, but local knowledge of the roads or a GPS is needed to find the way.
On my two previous trips, I was solo, and slept in the boat. There are numerous free boat-in campsites around the lake, each equipped with a tent pad, picnic table and chemical toilet. With two of us, we had decided to camp rather than sleep in the Potter.
We departed Freeman Creek about 11am, and after some chasing after puffs of wind, I fired up my new Honda 2 and motored to the center of the lake. We soon picked up a light breeze from the south and ghosted up the lake. After we reached the point where the lake turns to the east, we picked up a strong breeze from the north-west and had some vigorous tacks, pulled by the Genoa. The centerboard hummed as we sped back and forth. We turned east as the afternoon wind diminished.
We began looking for a campsite in the late afternoon. Some of the likely spots were occupied; others were too close to a group campsite. Then we noticed a Corps "honey bucket" barge pulling into a small bay. The barge departed, we spotted the "Campsite 11.3" sign almost hidden in the trees, so we pulled in as the barge pulled out, gliding up to the bank, pulling up the centerboard, and nestling against the bank, tying off to two trees. We unloaded-the Potter 15 cabin holds an amazing amount of gear-set up camp and had a beer.
After dinner, we read, and then turned in as the light faded from the sky. Just as we drifted off, a cascade of canine group howling broke out: Wolves? Coyotes? There are wolves in the area, but the howling was too brief to tell which. We did hear the deer grunting in the woods all night long.
The morning dawned bright and clear with just a slight shore breeze. We drifted out to the middle, then fired up the motor when sailing appeared futile and motored up to Dent Acres, a Corps campground and boat launch. We docked, watched the powerboats come and go, and admired a fisherman's catch of 18 Kokanee Salmon (landlocked) as he was cleaning them in the fish cleaning facility. We took a hike up a lake shore trail, and then motored back to camp as the temperature hit 98 degrees. Up the lake, we could see the Dent Bridge, a suspension bridge 1550 feet long, built in the middle of nowhere. The bridge has forty feet of vertical clearance, and I had sailed under it on an earlier trip. We lazed around camp, tried out my solar shower, and read until dark. No howling that night.
There was no wind in the morning, so we started to motor back to Freeman Creek, but as we hit patches of wind, we cut the motor and sailed. We noticed another Corps amenity: floating rafts, with picnic tables on the decking, and a swimming hole in the middle, complete with swim ladders. As we sailed along, a Corps speed boat went to pass us, then suddenly slowed and looked us over. They don't see many sailboats on the lake! I've never seen another in my three trips.
We got back about noon, pulled the boat, ate lunch and left for home.
Dworshak is a remote lake in a beautiful mountainous setting. Most of the boat traffic is local families and fishermen, none of the waterskiing, tubing, jet skiing hordes found in lakes closer to urban areas. There's also no lakeshore residential development, as all is publically owned. It's well worth an excursion if done early enough, before the water level drops.

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Home [Previous Page]	Dworshak Reservoir (Idaho) Trip Report July, 2008 Dworshak Reservoir is located in the Panhandle of Idaho, just north of the town of Orofino. It was constructed across the North Fork of the Clearwater River in 1973, ostensibly for flood control, but also as a large dose of pork. The pork was economic development for Orofino, based upon recreational boating and fishing. It drowned a beautiful canyon, but created an equally beautiful lake, fifty-four miles long, surrounded by forests, with minimal road access and little development. Unfortunately, the salmon crisis of the nineties found a new use for the waters: to cool the waters of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers, and to flush young salmon downstream. Instead of dumping water from the Snake River dams, used for irrigation and power generation, the Corps prefers to flush Dworshak which doesn't have generators or a large vociferous agriculture lobby. Usually the drawdown starts in July, and leaves a bathtub ring of eighty feet of mud banks by fall, which kills a lot of the recreation benefit. This year, spring came late, with a slow melt of snow in the mountains. The Clearwater and Snake were running high and cold in July, so Dworshak remained full. A friend and I made the trip July 8-10. The reservoir is administered by the Corps of Engineers, Web Site: http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/corpsoutdoors/siteMenu.asp?lake_id=105 which has list of recreation sites and an interactive map of the lake. There's a full-service marina at Big Eddy, near Orofino, and launch ramps at Bruce's Eddy. We found Dworshak State Park (Freeman Creek) more convenient to my home in Moscow, but they charge $4/day for vehicle access. There are free launch ramps at Dent Acres and Grandad, farther up the lake, but local knowledge of the roads or a GPS is needed to find the way. On my two previous trips, I was solo, and slept in the boat. There are numerous free boat-in campsites around the lake, each equipped with a tent pad, picnic table and chemical toilet. With two of us, we had decided to camp rather than sleep in the Potter. We departed Freeman Creek about 11am, and after some chasing after puffs of wind, I fired up my new Honda 2 and motored to the center of the lake. We soon picked up a light breeze from the south and ghosted up the lake. After we reached the point where the lake turns to the east, we picked up a strong breeze from the north-west and had some vigorous tacks, pulled by the Genoa. The centerboard hummed as we sped back and forth. We turned east as the afternoon wind diminished. We began looking for a campsite in the late afternoon. Some of the likely spots were occupied; others were too close to a group campsite. Then we noticed a Corps "honey bucket" barge pulling into a small bay. The barge departed, we spotted the "Campsite 11.3" sign almost hidden in the trees, so we pulled in as the barge pulled out, gliding up to the bank, pulling up the centerboard, and nestling against the bank, tying off to two trees. We unloaded-the Potter 15 cabin holds an amazing amount of gear-set up camp and had a beer. After dinner, we read, and then turned in as the light faded from the sky. Just as we drifted off, a cascade of canine group howling broke out: Wolves? Coyotes? There are wolves in the area, but the howling was too brief to tell which. We did hear the deer grunting in the woods all night long. The morning dawned bright and clear with just a slight shore breeze. We drifted out to the middle, then fired up the motor when sailing appeared futile and motored up to Dent Acres, a Corps campground and boat launch. We docked, watched the powerboats come and go, and admired a fisherman's catch of 18 Kokanee Salmon (landlocked) as he was cleaning them in the fish cleaning facility. We took a hike up a lake shore trail, and then motored back to camp as the temperature hit 98 degrees. Up the lake, we could see the Dent Bridge, a suspension bridge 1550 feet long, built in the middle of nowhere. The bridge has forty feet of vertical clearance, and I had sailed under it on an earlier trip. We lazed around camp, tried out my solar shower, and read until dark. No howling that night. There was no wind in the morning, so we started to motor back to Freeman Creek, but as we hit patches of wind, we cut the motor and sailed. We noticed another Corps amenity: floating rafts, with picnic tables on the decking, and a swimming hole in the middle, complete with swim ladders. As we sailed along, a Corps speed boat went to pass us, then suddenly slowed and looked us over. They don't see many sailboats on the lake! I've never seen another in my three trips. We got back about noon, pulled the boat, ate lunch and left for home. Dworshak is a remote lake in a beautiful mountainous setting. Most of the boat traffic is local families and fishermen, none of the waterskiing, tubing, jet skiing hordes found in lakes closer to urban areas. There's also no lakeshore residential development, as all is publically owned. It's well worth an excursion if done early enough, before the water level drops.