Idaho has more than 400 licensed outfitters, and a good chunk of them run trips somewhere on the Salmon River system. If you've started researching a rafting trip and every website starts to sound the same, that's because a lot of them are saying the same things: professional guides, unforgettable adventure, full service. But that can still leave you with a lot of different questions about which guide to choose.

If you're comparing guided rafting trips in Idaho, the honest answer is that a multi-day wilderness trip typically runs somewhere between $2,950 and $4,000 per person, depending on when you go and what kind of trip you book. That's a wider range than most people expect walking in, and the reason for it has less to do with which outfitter you choose and more to do with timing, trip length, and what's built into the experience.

Most people book a Middle Fork trip for the whitewater, but spotting wildlife may end up being the part they talk about for years. The Middle Fork of the Salmon River runs through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, one of the largest roadless areas in the contiguous United States. Because there are no roads in, there is no casual day traffic, fewer habituated animals, and less noise beyond what the river makes. The wildlife here tends to behave like wildlife is supposed to behave