Roving the River (Rogue) in Oregon

Sunday we went on a jet boat trip for a 104-mile-trip up the Rogue River. The Rogue River Canyon is a National Wild and Scenic River system.

The tour is featured as being a JET boat and our guide made sure we got plenty of "jetting".
The most fun were the "spin-arounds" where they turned the boat around in a sharp circle at a high speed. That created lots of waves and splashes. We were lucky enough to sit on the front seat so we got way less wet than most people.

The first few times I felt like I was on a roller coaster or some other carnival ride. We finally learned to brace our feet against the front wall and push our fannies against the seatbacks instead of trying to hold on to the hand rails.

The upper part of the river where we went is inaccessible by road.

I thought of my cousin, Bill May, when I saw how neatly our aluminum boat was rivet welded - and it was done so artistically.
These boats must be strong to take such a beating every day.

To see a little video of what we experienced, click on these words: Live DVD Action Footage If that doesn't work, go here http://www.roguejets.com/ . At the top click on Live DVD Action Footage.

The rest of the things we saw were bonuses to the jetting fun:

Fishing Boats:

I can't begin to remember how many boats we saw - all small with 1-6 people on them and many of them with proud/happy fishermen!

Wildlife:

We were lucky to see a young bear on the bank. He watched us while we watched him.

We saw several bald eagles.

I could think of all sorts of naughty things to say about these turtles but I'll refrain and let you make your own caption.

We also saw an osprey, wild turkeys, geese, cranes, blue herons...... and....

a very special tree....... a Dinosaur Tree!
Beautiful Scenery:

This tree was probably blown on top of this during a storm and it has stayed perched there for four years.

When we got back, we realized our guide wasn't kidding when he talked about the wind building up during our return trip. The surf was up and crashing.

The grasses were just whipping!