Martha and Bill met us (Kyle, Dillon, Lucas and me) in southern Oregon at the Rogue River for a 3-day raft trip. The trip was amazing. I thought for sure I’d get hypothermia or something horrible because of the cold water but I survived and was warm almost the entire time! Right before we left we found a cheap women’s wetsuit on craigslist and it was my lifesaver. Other than sleeping, I wore it the all day every day. Thanks to a handy water-tight box that Martha brought on this trip I was able to keep my phone with me and take pictures the entire time! Sadly the box wasn’t big enough for my DSLR so iPhone photos are all I have. But I’m so happy I was able to take pictures at all! This was a great trip!
He’s so handsome.
The first catch of the trip!
Poor Kyle had to hold the neck of his dry suit out to stretch it so it wouldn’t cut off his circulation.
The first day on the river we enjoyed light rain all afternoon. Late afternoon we started looking for a good place to set up camp and by the time we found one and were unloading boats/setting up camp it was raining hard. (And by we I mean I tried to be helpful but the Brook brothers did the majority of the work.) Once camp was nearly finished, Kyle found a freshly dead deer 10 feet away from our cooking area and tents. It was hidden by a large rock or we would have seen it sooner. In efforts to not be bear food, we quickly packed everything back onto the boat and found a new campsite on the other side of the river. Just after we finished setting up the second campsite the rain calmed down. The above photo is the drying rack Dillon and Lucas made that night.
If you raft down the Rogue River I highly recommend you stop and check out this cabin. The wood colors are neat and you can peak through the windows and see old furniture/bed frame/etc! Look at the charming crooked door : )
The first day I just let my socks get wet and it wasn’t too bad… but the second day I tried putting freezer ziplock bags over my socks, tucked into my wetsuit and my feet stayed dry all day!
Do you see a tiny orange dot sitting on a rock to the right of the waterfall? It’s a mini pumpkin. Someone placed mini pumpkins and various tiny squashes on rocks all the way down the river. I counted 62 and then lost track. Some were in easy to reach places like this one and other were really high on rock cliffs that make you wonder how someone safely put it there!
See the blue boat on the left shore? It’s been there for months. Somebody got their boat stuck, swam down the rapid and was forced to leave the boat. This rapid is a class 4 because there is only one path you can go to get through successfully and if you miss it you lose your boat. We, like everyone else, got out of the boat to hike up the rock and analyze the rapid. Thankfully, Lucas had done this before so he knew how to do it and explained it to Kyle so both of our boats made it safely through! Also, there was a little pumpkin inside the moon shaped rock : )
We stopped at a lodge, hiked up to explore the “Rogue Museum” and eat ice cream.
I’m used to seeing deer in my yard but I’ve never had one grazing so close to me.
We took 13 pictures/selfies and the first one was the only one with everyone smiling and looking in the right direction : )
Thank you Brook family for such a great trip!!