River Rafting Trip

In August, Kirsten, Patrick and I took a little guided trip (4days and 3 nights) down the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Although we like camping, we decided to take it easy, so we shelled out the extra money for a lodge trip. That is, instead of camping, we stayed at various lodge's along the way. You know, hot and cold running water, private toilets, clean sheets, etc. It was very nice.

Because of some cancellations, it was just the three of us and our guide. Although Kirsten and Patrick spent most of the time in the raft, I generally was following along behind in my own tahiti (blow up kayak). It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of white water and we saw a lot of wildlife, including black bear, elk, dear, bald eagles and osprey. We also saw steelhead, salmon and even a sturgeon jumping.

We are already trying to determine when we can take the girls down the river.

Here are a few photos from the trip. We used a couple of waterproof disposable cameras, instead of our digital, so the photos are not great. Just click on the photos to see a larger version for more detail.

Patrick in a tahiti on the first day. There was some stiff wind in the afternoon of the first day and you had to constantly row. It was not a lot of fun for him then.

Kirsten shooting some rapids in a tahiti on the third day. Although she enjoyed it, it was not what she was looking for on this vacation. She much preferred riding in the main raft with the guide doing the stearing.

This is me in the tahiti. I tended to give the main raft plenty of room after the first set of rapids. I was too close then and almost got washed under the main raft. OK, so it probably wasn't even close, but it did scare me enough so that I always stayed way back.

You have to look close, but you can see me being completely submerged in some white water. Thank goodness the tahiti was a 'self-bailer'. I had it full of water on several occasions. By the way, I made it through this section just fine.

As you can see, I did not make through this section. That is my tahiti upside down. You can just see my head about 15 feet to the right. I had wiped out way up around the corner and then had to ride the white water on my back for a couple of hundred feet before they could fish me out.

This is a photo that Patrick took the first night.

Here is a picture showing how close Patrick got to the deer while getting his picture. Some of the other kids that were at the lodge (on a different guided trip) were actually getting the deer to out of their hands, but I wouldn't let Patrick try that. It is still a wild animal after all.

Here is a photo of us taken on the third day. The guide took us on a morning hike to show us where we would be rafting later that day. As you can see, the trail was basically on the edge of a cliff.

This is a picture taken from where we were standing, looking down at the river. You can just see the churning of what they call the 'Coffee Pot'.