Veteran's Day Rogue River Trip, 2009 by Scott Ogren

In all, twenty four hearty souls shoved off from the Graves Creek boat ramp on an overcast Saturday morning in early November. Although the weather report had said to expect rain, we were all openly hoping for the weather to turn out to be a little better than the weather people had forecasted, we mostly didn’t care what the weather was – we were there for a good time, and that’s exactly what happened.

Although the forecast was for us to be rained on pretty much the whole trip, the only appreciable amount of rain we saw was the first evening after we had camp all set up – and we were ready for it, and the last morning during breakfast and the row out to the Foster Bar boat ramp. I’d say we got pretty lucky.

Camp at Horseshoe Bend the first night was as good as can be expected. We had a roaring campfire, quesadillas for an appetizer and Russ Pascoe brought his homemade puttanesca which he and the other kayakers served us on spaghetti with salad and garlic bread. It was an incredible dinner. Before leaving camp the next morning, we were treated to a hearty breakfast of French toast with sausage and eggs. We ate like kings!

The next day, our group successfully negotiated Mule Creek Canyon and Blossom Bar. We had a few people who had never been down this river, so precautions were taken to ensure everyone knew what was ahead of them and we all knew what to expect. The kayakers did a great job staging themselves throughout the Blossom Bar area to provide rescue support if it were to be necessary. We all looked out for each other and everyone did what they needed to do perfectly.

As is typical on fall Rogue River trips, our last night’s camp at Tacoma Bar has a feeling of accomplishment to it, and the group generally wants to celebrate – so we celebrated, and then celebrated some more. With steak fajitas for dinner, more appetizers than I can remember and Cary Solberg setting up a bar and playing the part of generous bartender, the party was on. With full stomachs and drinks in hand, we all sat around two campfires and partied the night away.

The next morning we woke up to rain, but Steve Herring’s omelets and a few strategically placed tarps have a way of making you not care about the rain – for a little while anyway. There was enough rain the last morning that soaked everything. If you thought you had anything dry before that rain storm, it wasn’t dry anymore. While we were all taking our tents down – with our dry bags open none the less – the skies just opened up on us and soaked every last remaining bit of everything we had. Luckily, we were only a two hour row from Foster Bar where we all had dry clothes waiting for us.

This was a very successful trip and the great success was made possible by everyone’s willingness to pitch in and work for the group. We all had a great time and are looking forward to the next OWA/OKCC Rogue River trip.

Rigging the boats at Graves Creek:

Kevin Herring floating in his dry suit:

Jenny Ogren on her Rogue River trip:

Danny Chandler making french toast:

Horseshoe Bend camp:

Part of the group floating down the river:

Part of the group floating down the river:

Fall colors along the Rogue:

Black bear along the river bank:

Sitting around the camp fire at Tacoma Bar:

Sitting around the camp fire at Tacoma Bar:

The bartender, Cary Solberg:

Steve Herring making omelets:

Eating breakfast as the rain moves in: