A notice on top of the 4 Rivers lottery webpage is alerting river users to a change to the camp selection process on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. Previously, the camp selection process involved a daily 4 PM meeting the day before launch. With up to seven groups launching each day, trip leaders or representatives would participate in a round-robin selection, taking turns choosing their preferred campsites. This system, while straightforward, had a drawback: if your group missed the 4 PM meeting, you were left with whatever campsites remained, potentially impacting your entire trip.
The new camp selection system applies for groups with a permit launch date between June 15 and September 8. 14 days prior to the permit launch date, a camp request form will be emailed to the permit holder. The USFS writes “Permit details and camp requests must be finalized 7 – 14 days prior to your trip” implying you may have up to a week to complete the form. Very likely, the camp request format will have your launch dates and then you enter your first camp pick followed by your second preference, third preference, and possibly more, for each night of your trip. This change will allow trip leaders more time to carefully plan their Middle Fork trip and allow them to create multiple camp options, reducing camp selection anxiety and the eliminating the 4PM meeting issue.
We’ve reached out to the USFS for clarification and will update this post as soon as we receive more information.