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4 days on the John Day River |
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A 5 day family adventure on the John Day River.
Four days on the John Day River
We found it, you do not have to look any further. The perfect multi-day river rafting trip for the entire family. This class two river flows through eastern Oregon’s dessert and is one of the Nations longest free flowing rivers. It is full of steep basalt canyons, small mouth bass, cliff jumping, warm water to swim in and clean camp sites. The take out for our particular trip is at the Cottonwood bridge just three and a half hours south on Highway 97 from Leavenworth, Wa.
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The stars of the show were the Bahle family; Brian, Sarah and Zoey age 6. The Mckenney family; Adam, Cheryl, Lane age 8 and Avery the youngest of the group at 5 years old.
We left Leavenworth at 5pm on Saturday, June 20th 2009 and went south on highway 97 through Yakima to Biggs, Oregon and on to the Cottonwood Bridge where we dropped a car and loaded up my truck with all of our gear which included a 14 foot Otter and frame and to my wife Cheryl’s dismay our borrowed “ghetto” raft, a 20 year old 16’ Achilles with a massive steal oar frame and a beaver tail. We drove another 45 minutes to the small town of blabla where we camped at the fairgrounds. We woke up early and had a wonderful breakfast at THE local greasy spoon. After breakfast we drove another hour or so to the Clarno put in. We managed to pump the boats and pack in under an hour. We did have to do a little patch work on the “ghetto” raft. You can imagine the ear full I got from my little Jewish American Princess. We also brought a Jackson Fun 1 which is a perfect kayak for kids under about 60 pounds and the Dynamic Duo which is another boat made by Jackson Kayak. The Duo is a double whitewater kayak that is perfect for two adults or paddle with the kids.
We had 70 miles to go and four full days to accomplish our mission. The first day we buckled down and put in 20 miles to be rewarded with one of our best campsites. We camped on an island just down river of the first classthree rapid. There was plenty of shade at all the camp sites,good hiking and flat ground to sleep on. Most of the campsites had great beaches for the kid to fish and swim at.
The second day was warm and we got on the river around 10am and started to travel through the canyons. The basalt walls rose 500 feet off of the river and were stunning. We saw big horn sheep, snakes, frogs and a lot of small mouth bass. All you need for bait is a little weight with a rubber grub and you will catch a fish every tenth cast. The kids were in heaven and so were the parents. We only kept one fish because Lane wanted the experience of killing, cleaning and cooking the fish. It was very good, but I guess most things are when you smother it in butter and garlic.
We had to float about 15 miles a day so you have to like to row your boat. The river moves along in the canyons but when it opens up in the basins it slows down especially with the up river wind. The kids did great on the raft, they took naps, swam, kayaked and just spaced off into the wildness. By the second day we did not hear “when are we going to be there” they got super into it and time slowed down for everyone.
We ended the trip with a short day on Thursday. Both cars were waiting for us at the take out. We paid $75 for a shuttle service which is well worth the convenience. After gassing up in Biggs, Oregon we drove another hour or so to the cute little town of Goldendale for a delicious lunch at a new bar and grill. We made it home around 5pm, just in time to watch The Last Starfighter and o to bed.
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