Rafting the Deschutes River

The last few weeks have been full of projects - yard and garden. Lots of good stuff, but not blogworthy.

But that has all changed!

When August rolls around there is one word on everyone's mind... "Whitewater"!

We packed up and drove to Rhododendron, OR to camp on our Annual Deschutes River Rafting trip.

The fishing was pretty good, but not great.

The weather was sure nice, though.



We stayed the night at Tollgate CG. A Private company now runs the park, and it was very expensive to camp one night.

Sad that we have to pay a private "for profit" company to use our public land. Taxes are probably involved, too.

The river was nice and relaxing, so all political troubles were lost.



We even got to take the kids to see the old family cabin.

This was the first year for the 9 year old cousins, too.

The current owners let us in - the place looks great, and still smells great, too.




After a good nights rest on the ground, everyone was eager to hit-the-water.








So we did!

The weather was perfect - hot, but not too hot.







All the younger ones tried out the water slides on the White River...








... and we hiked the hills above.

The hiking was rough in water shoes, but it was beautiful and warm.

No snakes were spotted, either.

We buried another treasure on top of "Belle's Butte", but don't expect to find it on any map ;-)

After the White River, we conquered "Surf City".

Over and over, we body-surfed the river and dashed back up to do it again.






The water was lower than last year - about 2-3 feet lower.

The rapids were tough, too! Alittle scary for the little kids, but everyone was ok, and eager to do it again.





Oak Springs was tough on us, too!

We swamped the raft, and had to bail it out just to flip it over and empty it!





Hey - where's Grandpa gone off to?

After the first day of rafting, we camped on the lower river.

Another "Gypsy Camp" in the setting sunshine.

We hiked a nearby campground, and found the old "Santos" we'd left behind the year before.

She was still there, but someone had put her on a different ledge... and her head was gone...

Fishing the next morning was beautiful and clear.

The fishing wasn't so good, though - just a couple of big suckers.

Saturday was PACKED on the river.

The warm sun got everyone eager to get wet again.

And the warm sun helped dry off our wet lunch after submerging the raft!

You know its bad when the drybag gets full of water!

Another fantastic trip and a safe ending. We're all ready to do it again!