A Day on the Water

Yesterday I was lucky enough to go on a rafting trip down the McKenzie River. The day started out clear but smoke from the fires that are burning in Oregon right now made the sky look overcast as we pushed off. The company that took us down the river was Jim’s Oregon Whitewater and our guide, Paul, was pretty knowledgeable about the area.

He was also pretty considerate about dumping icy cold water on each one of us, turning the raft so that each paddling station caught a nice wave of the 40 degree river. I lost feeling in my right foot numerous times throughout the 2-ish hours on the water. The river itself was running pretty low and the section we rafted was definitely the family ride. Mostly class II with one class III. Long periods of just floating down the river. Nothing wrong with that, of course, I just prefer to be doing stuff, especially if I’m freezing cold.

After the rafting trip it was time for a BBQ at Jim’s property on the river. The food was good and he has a cool grass area set up for volleyball, horseshoes and just hanging out. I’m no champion, but my horseshoes game is getting much better.

Overall, a great day out and it made me appreciate again how cool Oregon is.