The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: August twentieth, drifting through 100 miles of solid wilderness.

Last time, we looked at five of North America's still untamed rivers. The Selway, called by many the wildest river in the lower 48 states, flows down from the Continental Divide, through the Bitterroot Mountain range of east-central Idaho. This area is the heart of wilderness, a rugged, million-acre maze of pine-robed mountains, untrailed canyons and narrow valleys. The primary residents along the banks of the Selway are elk and bear.

When Congress created the Wild and Scenic Rivers System three decades ago, the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness was among its first choices. One of the few ways visitors can appreciate this domain's vastness is by rafting down the Selway's 100 miles. That's not easy. To preserve the wilderness, the U.S. Forest Service strictly limits river traffic, issuing just 78 raft permits each year. Only one party can launch its rafts each day.

The Selway is a white-water enthusiasts dream, with 45 named rapids, such as Holy Smokes, Ping Pong Alley, and Galloping Gertie. In the three-mile section known as Moose Juice, the river tumbles 150 feet through ten rapids.

And yet for all that hydraulic havoc, there are also long stretches where one can drift slowly for hours, casually casting long lines for trout. The Selway's silence is broken only by the sound of thrushes calling from the deep shadows.

Thoreau said, "Whenever a man hears the thrush's song, he is young and nature is in her Spring." So it is on the Selway.

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