Rogue River Rafting pt III: Finishing Up

On the last day of the rafting trip, we passed through a canyon about 70 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. An older couple with a cute outdoor adventures guide rowing the raft passed us, and the guide told us that the toughest rapid was only a mile ahead. She recommended we stop by the side of the river, walk up to the rapid, and scout our course ahead of time. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the two folks at the front of the raft, and the gal rowing.

So, we followed her advice and stopped at the hauntingly beautiful rocks before the rapids. Mark, Emina, and Kelvin are the tiny figures on the right of the picture scouting out the path ahead. I stayed behind by the rafts and took pictures of the local fauna. In Oregon, the orchids grow right out of the ground, which I had never seen before (I had always assumed the parasitic pretty plants grow out of the bark of host trees.)

And here is the beginning of the rapids. It doesn't look too bad right? That's because I put away my camera before it got too hairy.

We went through the Blossom Bar rapids fine, getting sufficiently wet and bounced around to make everyone happy. Sadly, the trip ended soon after that. You can see I am not really that happy to get off the water in this final group shot.

We broke down all our gear, put it all in the trucks, and drove back through the mountain pass to our original campsite. I was rather dirty and unshaven, but I did not want to go back to civilization. I still don't, even as I sit at my computer here in Ann Arbor and slog at my dissertation revisions. But..We all need companionship, it's merely human nature, and that's what I think, more than needing money, brings us all back to our towns and cities and our friends and families.