A permit for the Smith is always a long shot — about 1500 permits for 15,000 applications. And my application for an October 1 launch was optimistically based on a fairly regular bump up of flows in late September and early October. But our trip for three hardy kayakers was a delight. See the attached Smith River Trip Report for more details.
Based on our experience, a fall Smith trip would be a great addition to our RMCC schedule — for the hardy and flexible — and we THINK that you can just show up at the put-in, self register, and launch rather than submit/win a fall launch date for the lottery. Or a trip might at least be more flexible on the actual launch date – depending on the weather. But more on that possibility for next year.