Today would see a change in our activities. We were able to get up and around at a leisurely pace this morning. A tongue of fog was licking at the tops of the trees across the river from our camp area. All in our group had finished with the pursuit of salmon in the Rogue River. Today we were all going to take a ride up the river on a jet boat. Our destination would be the small town of Agness where we planned to have lunch. The boat would pick us up at the dock at our campground.

Fog was clinging to the tree tops before sunrise

The fog burned off before the boat arrived providing us with a nice sunny morning to begin our trip upriver. Straight across the grassy area from our motorhomes, I watched a big crow land on the very tip-top of a tree that bent over under the weight of the big bird. The section of river next to the campground was as smooth as a mirror adding to the scenic beauty that was a regular view for our group.

The fog burned off quickly after sunrise leaving a beautiful day for a boat ride

Sliding in on the smooth water, the boat arrived around 9:00 with a section of empty seats waiting for us to fill. The rumbling of big engines below deck revealed the power available to push this big watercraft swiftly across the water. The name of the boat was the "Larry Lucas II", part of the fleet of boats operated by "Jerry's Rogue River Jet Boats." Our pilot was Tim Brueckner and he turned out to be a very funny guy. The entertainment began as soon as we boarded the boat. If you plan to take a ride with Jerry's Rogue Jets be sure to ask to ride with Tim.

Our ride arrives at the campground dock

The boat pulled away from the dock and headed upriver with the big engines roaring. It seemed as if our pilot had a funny story or joke for every bend in the river and for most of the features along the way. We shortly came upon a teepee on the bank of the river. The boat slowed down as the pilot told a funny story about a native-American friend of his who lived in a dwelling like that up on the riverbank. After the humorous punch line, the boat picked up speed and cruised on toward a bridge over the river.

We are about to have our picture taken from the bridge above

Before arriving at the bridge the boat slowed to a crawl as our pilot told a story about a women he pointed out up on the bridge. It turned out that she was a photographer who would be taking our picture as the boat cruised under the bridge. Our pilot told us a humorous story about the photographer that included the woman's blind, two-legged wienie dog. Suddenly the pilot accelerated the boat up to speed and told us to "Wave." This would result in a fun photo of this boat full of passengers, many waving at the camera while the boat pushed water out of its way producing a big wake behind our craft.

Click on image below to see a larger version How we looked as seen from the bridge

As we sped along, the water was still very smooth ahead of the boat and on both sides. The beautiful scenery on shore was often reflected in the smooth water as if the water was a mirror. With every turn in the river we were presented with magnificent scenery all around us.

The water was as smooth as glass in many places as we cruised along

As the boat approached a bend in the river, the pilot slowed down and pointed out a flock of wild turkeys feeding among the small rocks on a gravel covered river bank. We listened to a story about these birds when they suddenly began running toward the water in front of our boat. Wings began flapping as the turkeys ran until they became airborne and flew to the other side of the river passing directly in front of our boat.

A flock of wild turkeys feeding on the river bank just before taking flight

It wasn't very long until we passed through a narrow cut, through the mountains, that produced sheer drop-offs on one side of the river. On the rocky cliffs there were trees holding tenaciously to the edge if the rocks. Again, we see beautiful scenery all around.

Our boat passed slowly by the first of many drift boats that we would see on our trip. Our pilot explained that the drift boats were put on the water some distance upstream. Then a river guide with two passengers would row the boat out onto the river. Then the boat was allowed to drift downstream with the current of the river. The guide would use the oars to keep the boat away from the shore and obstacles in the river such as rock formations. While this was going on the two passengers would be fishing for salmon.

A fishing guide maneuvers his drift boat for salmon fishing clients

Our pilot told us that he would slow down when wildlife was seen so we could take pictures. As he explained that he would yell out the type of critters he saw, one of the passengers yelled out, "Bear." The boat was slowed to a crawl as all the eyes in the boat tried to see the bear in the distance. Then I caught sight of movement near a rock among big green plants and tall, dry grass. We were given plenty of time to observe the bear as it wandered around as if it was waiting for us to go away so it could come down to the edge of the water. Even though the creature was too far away to see any detail, I took several pictures with the idea that I might be able to enlarge the image enough to see the bear.

This bear is watching this boat full of people looking at the bear

After a somewhat long stay to view a bear in the wild, the boat continued upriver. We zoomed along on mirror smooth water at times and at other times the water had the ripples of faster moving shallow water. Either way, our big, jet-powered boat left a broad wake trailing the watercraft.

On a straight section of the river an American bald eagle was spotted perched on a tree branch high overhead. Our pilot slowed the boat down almost to a stop for a short time for the passengers to view and take pictures of the big bird. As it turned out the perch the eagle was using was very high making the bird look small. Soon the boat was underway again.

We saw several bald eagles — this one is almost too far away to see

As the boat rounded a bend in the river a tent camp was spotted on the left bank right next to the water. One of the people in camp waved at the people in our boat as it slowly cruised past the gravel beach. As soon as the boat was beyond the beach campsite, our boat pilot "put the pedal to the metal" and we were back up to speed in a very short time.

This campsite, seen on the trip upriver, looked as if it was reachable only by boat

While traveling along at a nice speed, our boat had to slow down as we passed another drift boat. As the boat rounded a bend, I saw what appeared to be a pipe crossing high above the river. At one end of the pipe there was a leak that produced a spray high enough that the leaking water evaporated before it reached the surface of the river. We were told that the pipe supplied irrigation water that had been pumped from the river. As a result there wasn't a lot of interest in fixing the leak.

A water leak that is very hard to repair high in the air

As it turned out, the leaking pipe was located close to where our group was to disembark to go to lunch. Our pilot guided the boat up smoothly to the dock. The people that were supposed to meet the boat at the dock hadn't arrived yet, so I and another passenger jumped out to tie off the boat to the dock. As our group disembarked along with a few of the other passengers, several people remained on board to continue on to other lunchtime destinations.

Our boat takes off to deliver other passengers to other locations for lunch

Our group looked up the hill at the roadway we would be using to walk to the farm-house where we were would be eating lunch.

— Continued —

[ SUMMARY ]

[ PREV ]

[ NEXT ]

[ RV FUN TRIPS ]

Disclaimer Contact Us
Copyright 2006, RVFunTrips.com. All rights reserved.