On Thursday after work, we squeezed out of the terrible Bay Area traffic and picked up Avi and Rebecca in Davis - they had spent the afternoon buying and packing all of the food there. At 1:45am, we put our sleeping bags down on the side of the road next to the little town of Galice, and the next morning we met everyone else for breakfast at the resort.

For the first three days we were on the Rogue River, a 37-mile stretch in a wild and beautiful canyon. There were some delays before we could start, and we ran our own car shuttle (thankfully the road opened the day before). Something has to be said about that road - if there was a way to rent a Porsche and have it closed to other traffic, it would be one wicked drive. Even as it is, it's still great fun - but the 1-lane nature requires good care to be taken with the prospect of oncoming traffic requiring the use of the pull-outs to pass.

While we did the shuttle, the rest of the crew had loaded up the boats and prepared everything else - we were ready to float! Right away, 100 feet after starting, there were some fairly sizable rapids and the potential of bouncing off into the unknown water was scary for me, but I got a bit more comfortable after a while (and the rapids didn't feel any crazier than the first one, phew). Rainie Falls is the only class 5 section on the river, and it has an easier run on river right which most people (including us) took. Ryan ran Rainie in his kayak and Avi took one of the gear boats down - the boat faired well but he got to spend a little time in the water. Soon it was time to look for a campsite, and since it was late most of them were taken already. Eventually, we found a good spot right by the river before it got dark. Even with the permit system and only allowing a relatively small number of people, the best camp spots get taken quickly. The highlights of the evening were gin & tonic, delicious food, campfire and a good amount of socializing before tucking into our sleeping bags to catch up on much-needed sleep that we didn't get the week before the trip.

The next day was the longest and had some gorgeous stretches, including Mule Canyon where the river is squeezed between tight rock walls with waterfalls pouring off the sides making for a very unique atmosphere. A bald eagle and some other wildlife only added to the feel! We got a great campsite on the beach and got to relax more, playing games and sitting around the campfire entertaining ourselves with ER stories from the two ER doctors that seemed to revolve around poop for the majority of the time. On the next day there weren't many rapids and we took turns rowing the boat, which was really fun! With the big oars and frame, it's quite easy to turn the boat quickly but reading the water and knowing where to go is far from straightforward.

Overall I felt privileged to go on such a beautiful river as my first. The logistics seemed daunting and scoring the permit and organizing gear/food requires elaborate planning so I was grateful to everyone that worked so hard to make it happen.

On Monday (Memorial Day), we took a subset of the group (1 boat, 2 kayaks) and did the lower stretch of the Umpqua River, an hour or so more north in Oregon. It was a nice river, we made great time and then embarked on the long drive home! Redbull, coke and some entertaining conversations and we got home just before 2am. We even made it into work early the next day!

	Rebecca packing her drybag	Inflating the boats	Assembling the first aid kit

	A pile of gear	Inflating the rafts

			Rainie Falls

	Discussing the line to take

		Ryan

		Past Rainie Falls

	Geo paddling

			Our paddle captain :)

		Geo thought he dislocated his thumb after slipping on a rock	Chugging a beer before trying to fix his thumb

	Searching for a campsite, with only an hour of daylight left		Geo entertaining the crowd

	Kitchen area of camp	Our paddle boat	Two of the gear boats

	Kristina and Melissa	Laughter in the kitchen	Parallel parking

			Happy hour

	Gin & tonic		Upside down pineapple cake - yummy!

		Old friends	Dougie

	Noel	Mike	Team Estrogen

	Lone hunter	Large family

		Paco princess

	Fresh catch	Mule canyon	In Mule Canyon

			All smiles

			Sense of balance

		Playing games in camp

		Sunset on the Rogue River

	Matthew on the Umpqua river	Paddling down the Umpqua