A sign at the TH said the river is the only one in the lower 48 that has its entire length designated as a National Wild and Scenic River:
Fawn Lilies were out in force near the TH:
And saxifrage in the open rocky sections near the river:
We took the little mini loop to see the awesome viewpoint described in the fieldguide(about 3.5 miles in)
Joie enjoying the exposed section way above the river:
There were lots of beautiful creeks to cross throughout the day, including one of Goat Creek near some nice big campsites:
Pretty soon we were at the Kinzel Lake Trail junction:
And the beautiful Kinzel Creek:
The trail past the junction had a much more remote feeling as the tread shrank dramatically in width. Salal, Oregon Grape and Red Huckleberry are attempting to grow over the trail but none of the sections would I consider bad or overly brushy in any way. One thing we did notice were tons of signs of large predators. I think this is Mountain Lion poop filled with deer hair:
Here is my foot for scale:
Compare that to this tiny scat we saw on the Dry Lake Trail, which I think was Bobcat:
Derping out at the Linney Creek junction:
Jojo pushing ahead with the Linney Creek Trail going down to the fording spot(on the right)
Lots of gigantic Douglas Firs were hugged throughout the day:
There are several nice stretches of riverside trail once you get a few miles past the Kinzel junction:
Skunk Cabbage was blooming nicely in some of the boggier areas:
More beautiful stream side scenery:
Fir Tree Creek has a big cedar growing right in the middle of the creek at the crossing point:
A resident of the Fir Tree drainage:
Shortly after the crossing the trail makes a swing to the northeast and heads away from the Salmon River. It gains a few hundred feet as it climbs up the Fir Creek drainage before reaching the junction with the Dry Lake Trail:
There was patchy snow near the creek but none at our high point of the day(around 3,800 feet). Blazes were evident on some of the trees but even more noticeable was the brush-out that's been done on this trail recently. I saw some reports here on Ph about poor conditions on the trails in this area so we were super stoked to see all the recent maintenance. Big thanks to whoever is putting in all the hard work out there!
The rain started in around noon in spurts and it was time for the blue duck:
The Fir Tree Trail would dump us back on the Salmon River Trail a little further west than where we left it and would offer us some new scenery. The sign at the Dry Lake-Fir Tree junction was down on its backside so we helped it back up:
That's better
Most of the Fir Tree Trail had been brushed out too but there was a section about 1/3 mile long that was incredibly thick with rhodies in some places. This is one of the much better sections during the rough patch:
Once we got back to the Salmon River we took a nice break and then put the pedal down on the hike/run back to the Kinzel Creek crossing:
Back to the wide open stretches where we saw some friendly campers, and lots more big trees to admire:
Familiar scene near the TH:
Finishing strong after another awesome day on the trail and so proud of Jojo for her incredible effort yesterday:
I feel fortunate as it seems like things are coming together really well right now. I started a running class a couple weeks back with some well known Portland running legends and have been really enjoying it so far
It is very unlike me to sign up or participate in something like this(hence why I go hiking for hours on end alone a lot
) but I've learned a lot and look forward to being ready for the Hatfield 100 early this summer 
with a moving average and overall average of .6 mphs. The trip comp that day said something like 2 mph moving pace with 1.5 overall or something. So it seems like it was recording while we were sleeping, but then wouldn't it show a huge difference between moving time and overall time, instead of showing them as exactly the same seeing as we were dead still in the tent for 10+ hours?
