Written by peteg - Visit Website
Here are some pictures from a quick hike up Dog Mountain on Sunday. This was the first time up this trail for 3 of us. Gorgeous fall weather.
Sue and Kris on the way up.
View from the top. Sue, Kris and Marc.
Looking west.
Heading down.
Looking east.
Written by peteg - Visit Website
After a long, busy rafting season, Paul, Trev, Brian and I decided to head south and check out some kayaking on the NF Rogue River. I’d been down the NF Rogue a couple times but the last time was probably 6-7 years ago. The NF Rogue is fed by many springs so it usually has good flows all year. Although the flows are lowest in the fall, the rivers are still playful and the camping is great. After driving down Friday night we set up a temporary camp and crashed for the night. Expecting nice weather, I was surprised to hear it raining pretty much all night. I was unpleasantly surprised to find the bottom of the door had been left open (thanks Paul!) and had been sleeping in a puddle for most of the night. Thankfully my 4″ waterproof Paco Pad kept me well above the water and comfortable all night. We awoke to cold weather and clouds. I tried to keep the mood upbeat as we stood around eating oatmeal and trying to get warm but the sun just wouldn’t come out.
While the other guys waited at the put-in for the River Bridge section, I went down to the bottom to leave the car for shuttle and bike back up to the put-in. The 5 mile ride was a good way to get warmed up and I reached the put-in ready to go. While I was shuttling the sun came out and we were all excited to get on the river.
River Bridge Put-In
The River Bridge section is a nice Class 3 run. Mostly fun, short ledges with calm pools in between, the run starts off pretty slow, picks up in the middle with several good rapids and then slows down at the end as boaters reach the reservoir at the take-out. We kept a nice leisurely pace down the river, stopping to scout a few ledges where the line wasn’t completely clear. The scenery in this section is just outstanding with nice big trees and clear water. Good stuff!
Trev runs one of the first rapids
Paul in a fun rapid
Brian on the River Bridge Section
Everyone made it to the reservoir in good shape, although we had a couple swims. After a short break for some lunch, we headed up to take a look at the Natural Bridge section. This section is about 1 step harder than River Bridge so Paul and Brian were a little nervous. This would probably be the hardest thing they had run so far in their kayaking career. Of course, it didn’t really help that none of us really knew the run very well. I recognized a couple drops once we were on the river but I didn’t really know where the biggest rapids were or how much time we’d have to stop above them. On a good note, the sun finally came out strong at the parking lot and we took some extra time to soak up some warmth before hitting the river.
View downstream at the Natural Bridge put-in
Thankfully, the low water made for good recovery pools as the rapids picked up and we were able to get out and scout the biggest rapid, Karma. Brian and Paul decided to walk this one as it is kind of manky at low water. Trev and I decided to make the run. Trev had an exciting flip and roll at the top but finished with style and a huge boof at the bottom of the steepest part of the drop.
Trev in the Middle of Karma
Below Karma we stopped to play on a little surf wave. After a brief surf I decided to go a little further, caught an eddy above a small drop and just as I was about to peel out again, realized we were at the portage eddy above the big falls on the run. I quickly waved to the other guys to eddy out. The falls looked as bad as I remembered it from years ago so we scrambled up the hillside and walked down to a short seal-launch back to the river.
Trev at the base of Knob Falls
Immediately below the falls was a really fun set of rapids in a narrow channel which everyone ran well. After this the run flattens out for awhile before squeezing through a few fun, narrow drops. The next to last of these we named, Slot of Doom after I flipped into the wall at the bottom. After running the last drop at the take-out we went back up to Slot of Doom and set up camp at an awesome beach right along the river. Brian cooked up a great Dutch Oven meal and with clear skies above us, I felt confident I wouldn’t wake up in a puddle the next morning.
Pete’s Slot of Doom
Brian at Work
Sunday morning we took some time to cruise down to the lower section of the NF Rogue which cascades impressively through a boulder, strewn gorge with a couple big waterfalls coming down off the walls. At least, the river would be cascading if it wasn’t for the dam just upstream which basically keeps this section dry this time of year. Still, it was fun hiking around on the boulders and imagining what the rapids would be like if they had water.
Trev re-discovering his inner child
Paul amongst the “Giant Boulders”
After a little lunch we headed back up river to do some kayaking. Trev and I decided to run Natural Bridge again while Brian and Paul decided to do River Bridge. Trev and I also decided to blow through the Takilma Gorge section and take a look at that along the way. Our run on Natural Bridge went really fast as we blazed all the rapids without scouting. Below this section the river is really flat for about 1.5 miles and then abruptly turns the corner and enters Takilma Gorge. I’d run the entrance to Takilma many years ago and got a little freaked out in the first rapid; ending up scaling the cliff to hike out. This time we decided ahead of time just to portage the whole gorge along the trail at the rim and just look at the rapids. After one aborted attempt to exit before the gorge we found a good way up to the rim right before the entrance rapid. Takilma was awesome to see again and I would like to run it one of these days but today I was just as happy to skip it.
Entrance to Takilma Gorge
Looking down into Takilma Gorge
After a couple miles of incredibly dull flatwater, Trev and I reached the take-out with cold beers and dry clothes. After a quick drive down to pick up Brian and Paul we loaded up again and drove the 5 hours back to Portland. I finally got home about 12:30. All in all, a long, tiring weekend but a great time!