A Day on the River

Hello from Grants Pass, Oregon!

Today we went river rafting on the Rogue River. The chilly morning winds were chicken skin cold, but as the day continued we were warmed by the sun’s afternoon rays. We floated, paddled, bumped, shivered, and relaxed down the rugged and lush canyons for 14 miles. Only a fraction of the river's 215 mile entirety. Every bend in the river offered another unparalleled view of a piece of Mother Nature’s brilliance.

I chose the family owned and operated outfitter Ferron's Rogue River Fun Trips and was so happy I did. It was just the six of us and our wonderful guide Wayd. For most of the day we seemed to be the only ones on the river, passing the occasional rafters, fishermen, or people kayaking.

Wayd’s patience, humor, comfort on the river, and wealth of knowledge made him the perfect guide. He taught us about the important role the Rogue has played in the lives of Native Americans, pioneers, fur trappers, gold miners. He also helped us understand more about the feathered, finned, and furred creatures that call the Rogue home.

With his help we closely viewed and learned about Canadian geese, blue herons, snowy white egrets, and turkey vultures.
We followed a bald eagle, proudly perched on one tree, as he flew over the river to perch upon the branches of another. And followed him again as he flew to the branches of one more.

Baby deer stood chomping on a sweet treat of grasses along the river’s edge. A turtle who was sunning himself on a rock, slivered into the river. A thick pile of aslant sticks protruding from the rocky river banks was the result of a beaver’s diligent work. Although we did not see a beaver, we admired her home building skills. As well as the nest building skills of the osprey – their tumbleweed-like nests sat like a penthouses on the tops of evergreen trees.

We stopped along the banks of the river to pick and eat the juiciest wild blackberries we’ve ever tasted.

“Kids,” I announced, "this is your science class for the day."
Wayd didn’t miss a beat and explained what eddies are and gave a brief explanation of the life-cycle of the salmon. It is spawning season now and we witnessed 2 dead salmon floating in the river, a few jumping, and a giant one swimming upstream.

Not a bad way to learn, considering we also enjoyed some fun white water, a picnic lunch with homemade cookies and plenty of time for horsing around.

At the end of the day, I told the kids they had an assignment: Each of them must choose an animal that we saw while rafting, and write a one to two page paper about the animal. Research on the internet - it’s habitat, diet, characteristics, etc.

I was expecting a lot of complaints. But the kids’ only voiced one problem with the assignment: which animal to choose. Sally immediately began her research and writing about the blue heron and Payton began his work on the bald eagle. Janey took a keen interest in the blackberries and although they are obviously not an animal, I told her that would be an OK topic too. She is currently torn between writing about wild blackberries and wild salmon. Wyatt is curious about that turtle we saw.

But then again, as I write this, Wyatt has already interrupted me 3 times about something else he is curious about. He has asked for my permission to conduct a science experiment in the hotel room. He has taken ice from the ice bucket, and a Holiday Inn cup and wants to see how long it takes to turn ice into hot water using the in-room microwave.

I think only 6 days into the trip and the kids are starting to understand how one can learn without sitting in a classroom.

By the way, it takes one minute and 34 seconds to turn ice into hot water. And less than that to fall in love with the Rogue River.