Big Wood River

Big Wood River
Big Wood River and Boulder Mountains, July 2009
Location in the United States Show map of the United States Location in Idaho Show map of Idaho
Location
Country	United States
State	Idaho
Region	Blaine, Lincoln, and Gooding counties
Cities	Sun Valley, Ketchum
Physical characteristics
Source	Sawtooth Range
• location	Galena Summit, Blaine County
• coordinates	43°51′38″N 114°42′48″W[1]
• elevation	9,100 ft (2,770 m)[2]
Mouth	Malad River
• location	Gooding County
• coordinates	42°56′42″N 114°47′44″W[1]
• elevation	3,460 ft (1,050 m)[2]
Length	137 mi (220 km)[3]
Discharge
• location	below Magic Reservoir[4]
• average	464 cu ft/s (13.1 m^3/s)[4]
• minimum	0 cu ft/s (0 m^3/s)
• maximum	9,800 cu ft/s (280 m^3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	North Fork Big Wood River, East Fork Wood River
• right	Camas Creek (Big Wood River)

The Big Wood River is a 137-mile-long (220 km)^[3] river in central Idaho, United States, that is a tributary of the Malad River (which in turn is a tributary to the Snake River and Columbia River).

Course

From its source in the Sawtooth Range near Galena Summit in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, the Big Wood River generally flows south between the Boulder Mountains to the north, Pioneer Mountains to the east, and the Smoky Mountains to the west. Highway 75 accompanies the river southward from Galena Summit, to an area north of Shoshone.^{[citation needed]} Here, it carved Black Magic Canyon.^[5]

The river flows by Sun Valley and Ketchum, where it receives the tributary streams of Warm Springs Creek and Trail Creek. Below Ketchum, it is joined by the East Fork Wood River at Gimlet before passing by the small cities of Hailey and Bellevue. Continuing south, the river enters the Wood River Valley, the northern part of Magic Valley, after which it flows into Magic Reservoir. A tributary stream, Camas Creek,^{[Note 1]} joins the river in Magic Reservoir.

Below Magic Dam, the Big Wood River enters Lincoln County, passing by many lava beds and irrigation canals before entering Gooding County. Just west of Gooding, the Big Wood River joins the Little Wood River to form the Malad River.

Big Wood River's water flow is affected by numerous irrigation reservoirs and canals on the river itself and its tributaries.

Variant names of the Big Wood River, according to the USGS, include Malad River, Malade River, Wood River, Poisonous Beaver River, and Sickley River.^[1]

See also

• List of Idaho rivers
• List of longest streams of Idaho

Notes

1. One of the tributaries of the Big Wood River is the Camas Creek (not to be confused with at least four other Camas Creeks in Idaho). One of the tributaries of that Camas Creek is called the Malad River. What makes that interesting is that the Big Wood River empties into the Malad River, thus making the Malad River and tributary of the Malad River.

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Big Wood River
2. Google Earth elevation for GNIS coordinates
3. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. "The National Map". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29., accessed May 4, 2011
4. "Water Resource Data, Idaho, 2005"., USGS.
5. Yellowstone Business Partnership (2010). "BLACK MAGIC CANYON - IDAHO BLM AREA OF INTEREST". Archived from the original on 2013-06-13. Retrieved 31 March 2015. Over the last 10,000 years, the Big Wood River - along the Salmon River-Sawtooth Scenic Byways - has carved a narrow canyon of exquisite, swirling rock sculptures into surrounding black basalt. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)

External links

Media related to Big Wood River at Wikimedia Commons