Rogue River Raft Trip - June 2024

Our family along with two others have been trying to get a permit for the Rogue for 3 years through the lottery system.  This year we drew a permit and 17 of us across 3 family (Donaldson, Lovejoy, Starling) journeyed down the coveted Rogue Wild and Scenic for 5 nights and 6 days.  Normally the Rogue can be done in 3 nights/4 days but we wanted to travel a little slower and allow for a layover day during the trip and being that this was our first time - give us time to scout some of the more spicy rapids on this river.  

The Rogue river is located in southwestern Oregon.  (see map below).  The wild and scenic section is just northwest of Grants Pass and flows west towards the ocean.  On this map we put on just north of Galice (Almeda Campground and Boat Ramp) and took out at Foster Bar.  Our total float was 38.4 Miles.  

2024 Wild Scenic Rogue River Rafting Guide Map updated

Day 1 - Almeda Boat Ramp to Lower Whiskey Creek Camp (Travel: 7 miles)

We got an early start to drive the 4 hours from Bend to the put in.  We got on the river late morning around 11:30am.  This day included the famous Rainie Falls (video below) of a raft going through the main drop.   We did what’s known as the fish ladder on river right)

  

Whiskey creek camp didn’t have a great unloading zone but the site itself was very nice and there was a beautiful creek flowing to the river just above camp.  Chris cooked his famous steaks with chimichurri sauce, potatoes and wedge salad. (You definitely don’t lose weight on our raft trips)  

The boys brought a rope on the trip and rigged up a small rope swing by the creek.  You can see Abbie and I playing at the creek entrance.  


Day 2 - Lower Whiskey Creek to Lower Kelsey Camp (Travel: 10.6 miles)

Lower Kelsey was I think my favorite camp site on the river.  big rocky gravel beach, funny swimming, great views down the river and shade for the hot day.

Day 3 - Lower Kelsey to Upper Half Moon Bar Camp (Travel: 11 miles)

The section of river immediately below lower Kelsey camp was a beautiful winding section through rock.  Todays float took us through arguably the most challenging rapids on the trip.  Mule creek canyon and coffee pot rapids was a crazy ride that just came up out of nowhere, followed by the class 4 blossom bar.  Half moon bar camp would be our layover camp for two nights.

Day 4 - Upper Half Moon Bar Camp Layover (Travel: 0 miles)

Fun layover day, with lounging, hiking, swimming and attempts at fishing.  The adults shuttled across the river to half moon bar lodge.  Only accessible by boat or by plane.  It was an open day so they gave us a tour, and let us eat fresh berries from the garden.  Their freezer was already full!  It was the best fresh fruit any of us had ever had.  The strawberries were to die for.  Kelly and I both said we had never tasted strawberries this good in our lives.  We decided we would all love to come back here for an adults weekend at some point.  

Day 5 - Upper Half Moon Bar to Upper/Middle Tacoma (Travel 4.2 miles)

Another great camp spot to end off our trip.  Walking distance to tate creek falls - a natural water slide about  mile up from the river.  Great fun.  

Day 6 - Upper/Middle Tacoma to Foster Bar Boat Ramp (Travel: 5.9 miles)

Uneventful and enjoyable float out the last 6 miles to Foater Bar.  Smiles and Chaco tans all around.  Stopped in Grants pass for dinner at In and Out.  Treated to a nice sunset views of the mountains on the way home. 

An amazing trip with perfect weather on the famous Rogue River Oregon.  

Rafting the Main Salmon River (Idaho)

Our big raft trip for the year was a 7 day rafting trip floating over 80 miles on the main salmon river through the Idaho Frank church roadless wilderness in late August. To get a permit you need to submit a request into a lottery in January. This is a popular rafting river with about a 3% chance of drawing a permit. I got lucky and drew a permit so we planned to go with 2 other families and 17 people.  6 adults and 11 kids.

Here is the location of the river:

The total trip length was actually 10 days.  It took 2 days to get to the put-in on the eastern side of Idaho near Salmon Idaho and then a day back from the western side of Idaho near Riggins Idaho.  Our permit put-in day was Monday so we left our house about 6 am Saturday. 

Day 1

By late afternoon Saturday we were north of Stanley Idaho. There was a gold dredge and ghost town a few miles off the main road so we decided to check it out to take a break from driving.  It’s at an area called Yankee fork  

It was getting towards evening so we got back on the road and started looking for a camp site along the highway. We found a place around 7:30 just south of Challis Idaho and pulled in, and got dinner going.  

Day 2

Sunday we got going early and our goal was to get to the Carey creek put-in by mid day to grab one of the campsites at the put in, get the boats set up and rigged and go through the permit process (request campsites, informational talk etc). It was a hairy bumpy drive the last 36 miles along a narrow dusty road to the put-in where the road literally ended.  It felt like you were driving to the edge of the known lands.  The weather was hot so we slept outside with no tents to make it easier to get going in the morning.  

Day 3/River Day 1 (Monday) 

Launch day!

Along the way we stopped at some native rock paintings 

Our camp site for day 1. Small but nice  the only downside was that just upriver from our camp was a dead horse in the river (with a bridle on) and it couldn’t have been more than a few days old but it was starting to smell a little if the wind was blowing down river  

Day 4 / River Day 2 (Tuesday) 
Today was to be a long river day. Our goal was to push down river 20 miles but then take tomorrow as a layover day.  We got on the river around 9:45 and hit our target camp - Upper Allison around 5 pm. We stopped at a natural hot spring for lunch which was fun. The day had 1 class 4 and a few class 3’s. Interestingly Kelly, PJ, and Jasper all fell in as we went through a hole on an un-named class 2. A lurker!  Our campsite at upper Allison was beautiful sand beach with shade. Perfect for a layover. 


Day 5/ River Day 3 (Wednesday)
Today is our layover day at Upper Alison. Hiking, swimming, ultimate frisbee, good food and good friends.  Kelly and I had leisurely coffee by the river. 5 deer grazed by the campsite. 


Day 6 / River Day 4 (Thursday)
Back on the river for another decent push of 17 miles. Hit the river by 9:15 AM.  Cool in the morning but would climb into the 90’s by the afternoon. This would be our biggest rapid day with the most technical being “Big Mallard” - a class 4 rapid with a very specific line you had to hit as to avoid some bad holes. 
The day started off interesting with a black bear along the river.   The Harris family had a family member and a duffle bag go in the river in the first set of rapids but other than that a successful day and everyone got through the big rapid ok.  Our camp for the evening was a medium sized sand beach called Boise Bar.   Cooler is complete out of ice. 


Day 7 / River Day 5 (Friday) 

Leisurely morning drinking coffee. Also a nice view from the groover this morning. Today is a 10 mile day to a reserved site called Hungry Bar, so there is no real rush. Plus we got to stop at Buckskin Bill’s store a couple miles down the river from our camp.  What an amazing place full of history.  Plus after a hot week and being out of ice, cold soda, ice cream etc was a welcome treat. 

Another warm day on the river with a huge sand beach at Hungry bar so we needed shade, but a fun beach camp. 

Day 8 / River Day 6 (Saturday) 
Got going early today on the river not because of a long day but as we close in on the end of the trip more and more boaters are trying to go after fewer and fewer sites. We got going about 9:30, targeting a site called whiskey Bob. We hit the Whiskey Bob site around 2 pm and snagged it making today a 9 mile day and our last river day tomorrow a 11 mile day. Whiskey Bob is a smaller site so a little tight for our group size but it was still very nice. Today is a little more smokey and overcast making for a melancholy day  - weather and the trip winding down. We went cliff jumping on the rocks across the river which was fun! Also some fishing but no luck there.  

Day 9 / River Day 7 (Sunday)
Last day. Drinking coffee on the river this morning. Cooler today and a little smokier. We aren’t sure where the smoke was coming from being on the river for 6 days and no outside contact. 

After getting off the river we headed in to Riggins Idaho for pizza/dinner.  Turned out the fire was near Riggins.  We had a great dinner and decided to try and drive all the way home.   The Lovejoys, and the Harrises stopped to camp about halfway home. We drove all the way through and arrived home at 4 am. What an amazing trip. 

4th Annual Fall boys Camping trip (2017)

We just got back from our annual fall boys camping trip for 2017.  

Previous years:

A little later than average this year - Sept 30/Oct 1 and the weather was a little more cool and unsettled but still a great time.  This year we were joined by PJ for the first time!  Kelly was a little nervous about this but decided to ok it.  The trip this year was via canoe upon request from Noah.   The plan was to travel along an ~8 mile stretch of the Deschutes river from Tenino boat launch just below Wickiup reservoir to Wyeth boat launch just above Pringle falls.  This stretch has no rapids and is a nice easy down-river float.  Here is a map of the route and our selected primitive camp spot (blue dot) along the river.

We dropped one car at Wyeth and had Kelly drive us to the put in point at Tenino.  Here we are at the put in and just starting down river.

We selected this camp spot about 2/3 down river to our exit as it was relatively remote.  Had a great little eddy to pull the canoe into to unload.

I had a few new recipes I wanted to try on this trip.  The first was pizza over a camp stove. I originally learned this with NOLS many years ago but haven't tried it recently.  Chose to top it with peppercorn feta, kalamata olives, and arugula on half (for Noah and I).  First pic is Hunter helping me by cutting up olives.  Of course the trip wouldn't be complete without hot-dogs over a fire which we did later when the wind died down.  I also cooked a peach cobbler for desert.

Here is a video of the kids throwing pin cones in the river on a walk for entertainment.
After a cool night we rose Sunday morning with a little rain to start but clearing to partly cloudy with a cool wind but not bad for October.  For breakfast I made Fresh sourdough french toast with raspberries and pumpkin spice maple syrup along with a side bacon.  It was tasty!