Chronicles of a Woman Enjoying Beer and Whitewater (Day 3)….

This Whitewater Warehouse guest blog is written by Ginger Johnson, owner of Women Enjoying Beer and craft beer specialist. She has chronicled in the last two blogs her Oregon Rogue River rafting and craft beer adventure. Here is her third and final installment about the trip.
Interested in joining us on an Oregon Rogue River Raft and Craft trip in 2011? Just click here for more details: 2011 Oregon Raft and Craft Trip.

July 20, 2010 – Day 3 and the final day of our inaugural Raft and Craft trip.
Dawn came again gently after a full nights sleep at Marial Lodge. We were at breakfast by 8 for a day of about 16 miles, through a canyon and much sunshine. Good bacon at breakfast only enhanced the day!
Off we went to get on the river by 9 am. The day felt chilly to start as we went through some striking narrow canyons for the first while. Completely different and we heard some good stories as we all rode. There are pretty of serious rapids, Blossom and Coffee Pot among them, which has WWW making sure everyone is safely on board the pontoon rafts. No sense taking foolish chances with Mother Nature.

 

Rogue River 

This re-solidified the excellent and wise experience of Bob & Guy for the benefit of their guests. We all felt safe the whole time – which of course only makes the trip that much more enjoyable (and recommendable).
By midday lunch stop, we’d seen lots of turtles, plenty of other traffic including the jet boats on tour, and several other rafting parties. A few areas of still(er) water had Bob and Guy using the oars more to move us along.
Lunch was generous again with BLT’s – mmmmm! – and more fresh fruit and veggies. On the river again after a bite to finish the float.
Landing safely around 145ish (no watch on), Bob & Guy easily navigated us to a ramp, where we all proceeded to unload and unpack. After all the fanfare of that, the rafts were loaded on the trailer,

 

pontoon rafts safely loaded up 

some of the guests said goodbye and headed off, and we climbed into the truck to drive back over the pass to Galice, where cars were parked upon our launching.
The road over the pass is rather dramatic and closed in the winter for good reason – it rises from 90 feet above sea level to over 5000! And I couldn’t help but think - “what a great ride this’d be on a snowmobile!” Anyway, just shy of 2 hours later, we slid into Galice, gathered gear and bid adieu.
What a spectacular trip! Ultra hospitable, safe, fun, refreshing, tasty, energizing and now I can’t wait for next year.

Thanks to Ninkasi & Russian River for great beers