Wild and Scenic Rogue River

For the Priests Quorum Super Summer Activity we rafted 3 days and 2 nights on the Wild and Scenic Section of the Rogue River. This section is highly regulated: only rafters and foot traffic are allowed through this 30 stretch of wilderness. We had 5 priests and 4 adults on the trip. The father of one of our priests, Robert, has been down this section of the river several times and acted as our host/tour guide. And since he was pretty much in charge he invited Allie to come along. How lucky is that. I was all for "Guys Only" but it really was great to have Allie along to share in this amazing experience. We took two rafts. Robert paddled one and I paddled the other. Yes, I did it! I've been white water rafter several times before but never was the "oresman" (I don't know if that's a word). I was given great instruction by Robert and several other experienced rafters. I listend to the instruction but didn't quite understand the instruction until after the first 3 rapids. Baptism by fire! I did figure it out and was paddling like a pro by the end of the trip. I only got stuck on one rock and hit another rock, other than that it was smooth sailing (paddling). After finding out that I would paddle the 2nd boat, Allie quickly called one of the seats on Roberts boat. Robert had two seats in his boat and probably 500 pounds of gear. Robert is a pro at this rafting stuff and cooking. We set up camp two times and slept under the stars each time. It was nice and warm during the day and nice and cool at night. Robert had a 5 star menu for the trip. Each dinner was started with the appatizers of Smoked salmon dip, clam dip, and mango salsa. YUM! The first night Robert BBQed chicken that had marinated for 4-5 days, a fresh cut tossed salad, yest rolls, and cool aid. We had brownies for dessert. Royal treatment for being in the middle of a wilderness area. The next night we had tri-tip Steak and baked potatoes. The steak was about 3 inches thick and cooked perfectly, almost like prime rib. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Well here's some pictures of the trip. We had a Blue Raft, that Allie rode in, and a Red Raft, that I rode in. Here we are at the putting in at Graves Creek. Here's a couple on the River. We roped our rafts through the fish ladder to get around the class 5 rapid Rainie Falls. Turns out the fish ladder is a class 3 rapid. We took the blue raft first which drug Robert and I down the 3/4ths of the rapid. I went face first for most of it. It was great! Here we are enjoying our first night's dinner on the river. We camped at Horseshoe bend. We saw a lot of beautiful country: high mountains, green trees, lots of osprey. The group saw 3 bald eagles, but each time one flew by I was in the woods answering the call of nature. We did see something, or someone very few rafters see on our trip. We were stoped at Zane Grey's Cabin along the river and First Lady Laura Bush pulls up next to us on a raft. Pretty cool! She's the lady in the tan raft, sitting nearest our raft. Here's a few other photos: Zane Grey's Cabin This trip is certainly one to put on your To Do List!