Wild and Senic Jet Boat Excursion...

Cool blue waters,Whitewater thrills,Warm summer breezes,Birds of prey, And a tree that grows on a rock? These were just some of the things we experienced as we were traveling up river in an aluminum boat powered by three Chevy Vortec engines. How much power you ask? Well hows about around 1000 horsepower. Enough power to get you from point A to point B in a hurry. We arrived at Gold Beach Oregon, A small little town nestled on the Southern Oregon Coast,Where the Rogue River finally makes its journey to the Pacific Ocean and home to the whitewater jet boat excursions.

When we arrived we were greeted by our pilot and numerous other guest who were also waiting to experience a truly one of a kind jet boat excursion. The tour boat is equipped with a speaker system allowing the pilot to give you a guide tour when points of interest become available. The seating in the boat is rows of padded bench seats with a cubby by your feet full of life jackets. The pilot of the boat explains to us what we well be seeing during our 104 mile round trip adventure. Oh and did I mention this is what is called a dinner cruise? You head up river see some sites, and on your downward trip you stop off for dinner on the river. He gives a little history of the company,the river and were off. We slowly head into the estuary where a few fisherman are trying their luck to catch the elusive king salmon. Heading upriver the pilot points out to us an Osprey(Pandion haliaetus)perched in a nest high above the river. Our pilot slows the boat long enough for his guest to snap a couple of pictures. At this point we are only just a few miles from where we started. Next stop who knows it all depends on how much wildlife is out and about. Making our way upriver we come across a Bald Eagle(Haliaeetus leucocephalus)The pilot slowly maneuvers the boat right under the tree of where this magnificent creature is perched about six feet above our boat. Looking at this bird that close really gives one a perspective of just how large these birds really are. A couple of photo opportunities of the bald eagle and were off again. Our first real stop where we get off the boat is a little mountainous community called Agness. We pull up to a dock, tie the boat off, and our pilot instructs us to be back on the boat in 30 minutes. We head up a hill to public restrooms,a country store, and a full service restaurant.

We grab a a quick snack to eat, use the bathroom, and head back to the boat. By this time the temperature has jump about 20 degrees. The temperature now reads in the upper 80's. As we all find our places back aboard the boat were told by our pilot that the life jackets provided by are feet are to worn at this time. Alright!Finally like a kid in a candy store with a fist full of quarters we were finally going to get our first taste of the whitewater we've heard so much about. We place our life jackets on, tighten down the straps, and head upriver with the roar of the engines and the warm wind blowing against are faces.

First up is what is known as two mile rapid. This part of the river is loaded with bedrock and boulders from bank to bank. We past by a rock about the size of a small school bus. We run a channel on the left hand side of the river bank. Squeeze between the bedrock shelf a few rocks barely poking out of the water, like a turtle sticking his head out of his shell,Up a small shoot of water and were safely in a large pool of calm water. With our excitement level running like a contestant who just got the winning answer to $50,000.00 dollar question, Our pilot decides to add a little more excitement. With the controls at his hands he begins to turn the boat and throws the engines in reverse, causing us to do a 360 spin. With the boat turning like a child's top on a hardwood floor we were inundated with a blast of the Rogue River. The occupants let out a scream, and begin to hoot and holler like a bunch of holler monkeys in a zoo fighting over the last banana. After a few more riffles we have made it to Foster's Bar. This is where the rafting outfitters pullout from their journey that started some 18 miles upriver. We head further upriver until we reach what is know as the wild and scenic section of the river. From here on out there are no roads, no homes, and the only two ways to access the section of river is either walking the Rogue Trail which follows the Rogue River from Grave's Creek Bridge in Galice Oregon, Or taking a jet boat excursion that holds the permits to access this area of the river system.

Entering the wild and scenic part of the Rogue the canyon walls become extremely steep. We come across a section of river where our pilot points our attention to a tree growing some 30 feet above the river on top of a solid rock. We slowly past the tree and and he points out that the root system is actually growing down the side of the rock into the river its self. The river begins to change as we head further and further upriver. We come across some rafters making their trek downriver. By this time the temperature is really starting to get hot. As we past by a rafter he leans over in his raft and pulls out a super soaker. This is a water gun capable of shooting a stream of water with some serious distance. He unloads his stream of water towards the people sitting in the first few rows up front. The pilot of our boat keeps slowly motoring up river giving the rafter another chance to reload his water gun. The rafter again takes aim and unleashes his high powered water gun again. This time he hits the last three rows of the boat and the pilot of our boat. The pilot comes across the speaker system and says "My Turn." He backs the boat within a couple of feet of the rafter, Revs up all three engines, And with the flip of his hand the boat belches a wall of water completely throwing the rafter into the river. Our boat lets out a cheer and were off again. As we motor our way up river we come to a spot known as devil's staircase. This is a series of rapids stacked on top of each other like a staircase. The pilot revs the motors and it's full steam ahead. As we travel up this series of rapids the air begins to fill with spray from the boat pushing its way upriver through the set of rapids. By this time we are completely soaked which cools us off as the temperature is now well into the upper 90's. We finally make our way to the top of our destination where we stop at the bottom of Blossom Bar a boulder infest section of river which is considered a class 3-4 rapid depending on the flow of the river.

As we take in the sites and sounds of the wild and scenic section the pilot comes across the speaker system and says it time to head back downriver. Now we get to experience all the rapids from a different perspective. You see heading down river you can't see what's below some of these rapids. Luckily for us we had an experienced pilot that new every safe back down. By this time the sun is getting lower in the sky and we had a good chance of seeing some wildlife coming down to the river banks to feed and drink. We come across a small brown bear feeding on blackberries high above the river. A little further downriver and we come across a pack of river otters(Lutrinae)looking for food on the rocks. By this time were half down river, and our stomaches are begining to growl from hunger. Luckly for us as I mentioned earlier we were on a dinner cruise and soon we would be stopping. We finally reach our dinner destination. We pull up to another dock across from where we were earlier in the afternoon directly across the river. We head up another hill to the resturant located above the river. There is a full deck overlooking the river and tables set up. The meal was not included in the the trip but the price wasn't to bad either. We had BBQ chicken,potatoe salad,a dinner roll and some lemonade. The tempature on their outside thermometer read 92 degrees at 6:00 p.m. We finished our meals and headed back down to the boat. Gray wool blankets were placed on the seats as we again found our places on the boat. The tempeture would soon start to drop fast as we headed back down river to the coastal marine air. We finally made our way back down to where we first started our adventure. We unloaded and and said our goodbys. If you ever get a chance to try one of these whitewater jet boat river excursions do it! It was great experience to be outdoors and the scenery was incredible. Our pilot was also very informative also.
Here was just some of the action captured on video.

Video Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIxCGgYvTT4