6 minute read
Catching Waves with Jet Boat Captain Brian Thomas
Photo by Cenone Johnson
BY MIKE MCKENNA
To some people, jet boating the Snake or Salmon Rivers in Idaho may be a novel idea. To those in the know, it’s a ”Bucket List for Life” adventure—a memorable and unique way to see some of the most rugged, remote, and breathtaking scenery in the country. “It’s an incredible experience. It’s safe, it’s fun, and it’s an easy way to see these special places. It should qualify for anyone’s ‘Bucket List,’” says Captain Brian Thomas, and he should know.
Brian has been exploring rivers on jet boats since he was a child. Growing up in the Lewis-Clark Valley, he spent his youth exploring the moving waters of Eastern Idaho with his family. By the time he became a teenager, Brian had fully fallen “in love with jet boats and the river.”
Photo by Borderline River Charters
That’s obviously an easy thing to do when you grow up in “the jet boat capital of the world,” as the Lewis-Clark Valley is called. The border towns of Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho meet at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. The Salmon joins the Snake upriver. The water from the three rivers then feeds the Columbia River and flows west to join the sea.
These rivers and their famous whitewater rapids make passage extremely difficult. There’s a reason that Lewis and Clark called one of them the “River of No Return.” That reason is because they didn’t have a jet boat or an experienced captain. Running against the current of three massive rivers requires boating skills, patience, and an uncanny ability to “read the river,” which Brian must display every day in order to keep visitors moving upstream.
Photo by Borderline River Charters
Brian got his captain’s license while studying Environmental Sciences, focused on Watershed Management and Fisheries, at the University of Idaho. After graduating, he bought a boat and filled in for local outfitters when he wasn’t working on weather stations or fish counts or stream assessments for his day job.
But the water was where Brian really wanted to be. He even proposed to his wife, Angie, next to one of the most famous rapids in Hells Canyon. Famed Granite Creek lives up to its legend as some of the biggest whitewater in the country, rivaled only by the Grand Canyon.
Photo by Borderline River Charters
“Some people are just drawn to water,” says Brian, who also spent a summer running jet boat tours in Alaska.
In 2011, Brian purchased an outfitter’s permit and opened Borderline River Charters. He’s been successfully catching waves and casting for fish with happy guests of just about every age ever since.
Photo by Borderline River Charters
“As long as you take the weather conditions into account, anyone can enjoy a jet boat ride,” he says, adding, “People don’t typically get seasick on them either.”
One of the best things about taking a jet boat tour is that there really is no age restriction. Brian’s boat was made in the “LC” Valley, which is likened to be the world headquarters for jet boat builders, too. His particular 28-foot Bentz Boat carries up to 19 passengers.
Photo by Borderline River Charters
Welded-aluminum jet boats may make up a miniscule part of the boat industry, but they are sturdy do-it-all boats, good for everything from traversing rivers full of whitewater to towing water skiers across the lake or hitting those hard-to-get-to fishing holes. Jet boats have inboard engines: a jet pump sucks up water from under the boat into an internal propeller, an “impeller,” which then shoots the water back out through a jet nozzle in the stern. They can run in as little as six inches of water. Being on board, it feels more akin to flying than boating over the water.
Bentz has been building boats since 1972 and their crafts can be found on waters all over the globe; from Alaska to South America, from the Arctic to Australia to India, as well as making regular runs through the deepest gorge in North America.
One of the best ways to see both Hells Canyon and the Salmon River is a personalized fishing and sightseeing charter. Business group getaways are also popular. Of course, some folks simply want to enjoy the scenery, the wildlife, or the historic aspects. River tours can include visits to old ranches, mining spots, and homesteads that are on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as stops at Native American petroglyphs and pictographs. Brian knows them all. He can guide clients to the place where Chief Joseph led his Nez Perce tribe across the Snake River on their final run from the U.S. cavalry in 1877 or up a dusty path above the river to an isolated monument dedicated to 34 unnamed Chinese gold miners slaughtered in 1887.
Wildland Fire Fighters shuttled by jet boat during the Snake River Complex Fires at Shovel Creek in Hells Canyon July 16, 2021
Photo by Borderline River Charters
Everybody gets a kick out of the Class III and IV rapids and how easy the boats seem to soar over the roughs. Don’t be fooled, however, as plenty of weekend captains have discovered at the cost of their boat that the Snake requires far more seasoning than lake excursions. “It’s like everything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,” Brian says. What really fires up this humble, easy-going outdoorsman? Besides watching his two talented sons, Cooper and Kash, play hockey, this everyday outdoorsman derives joy from sharing and preserving the river with others.
“People live such stressful lives nowadays, to be able to slow down, be on the water, to take in the scenery and the wildlife, to see elk or bighorn sheep,” Brian says. “You see people melting into the moment. I’ve spent a lot of time in the mountains and a lot of time on the water. And it never gets old.”
Indeed. What better place could there be for a corner office than Hells Canyon? You won’t even notice there’s no cell phone service!
