My trip down the Deschutes River

One cool desert morning, we started. My wife and kids were supercharged. My rafting down rivers was learned in my teens. I had gone down the river a couple of times and knew I could take my family and friends down the river” safely.” Some trepidation. It was a river with class 5 rapids and class 4 rapids. Most of the time it was class three and peaceful drifting. It was a learning experience for my wife, kids, and friends.

Reaching the drop-off place on the river was a washboard road. Our car took a real beating. I was told by my car mates to go faster, so you’re riding on top of the ridges. Being the typical male driver, I knew what was best. We arrived with shaking bodies, and a dirty look was exchanged between my fellow carmates and me.

At the town of Maupin, Oregon, we stopped for supplies. We were to meet our rafting company 12 miles up the river to be fitted to a raft.

They finally convinced me to run the ridges, and yes, it was much easier.

 So, we arrived at the demarcation cast off with a smiling face instead of a frown. We cast off in the swiftly moving water, and we all learned to paddle as a team. I told the crew to stick to the left side of the river. The biggest Class 5 rapid required staying left. The only way was down a chute of water next to the falls. You had one chance to do it perfectly, yet 10 percent of the rafts still capsized. So, you needed your life jacket on because you had a chance to be tossed out of the raft. We thought at first that we were zombies waiting for this big fall. I really had everyone paranoid, as I was thinking, “Will we make it? " Will we make it? Will we make it?? I did have my precious kids with me!!

All in all, the Deschutes is a wonderful trip. You can hire a guide in Maupin for not too much. You drift a lazy 5 miles at the start. The warm heat of morning is warming you like a warm bed. It is peaceful to be completely distracted from your workaday life, whatever your profession is.

Drifting and drifting. Everyone had forgotten my warning and was lost in thought. You could hear the falls in the distance. We paddled to the left for a wild ride down the chute. Like trying to thread a needle.

  All the photographers were standing on the high walls surrounding the huge, dangerous falls. Talking pictures of the rafts and the excited travelers that came to best the Deschutes. It was truly a wild ride. The mist and smell of ozone were refreshing and charged with excitement as everyone held on to their raft to avoid being tossed out into the cold water. Of course, they had people ready to help. A flipped raft was a challenge for volunteers, who worked hard to round up floating people who were merrily floating down the river. They just realized that taking a challenge was great fun.

 It was mostly class 3 until you reached Oak Springs, which was class 5, and you had to know which branch of the river to take. If you take the wrong one, it will tear your raft up. More excitement and anticipation as you shot down the huge roller waves. You felt what you thought a cowboy felt riding a bucking horse. More lazily floating a few class 3 and 2 rapids. Then the river became a wide, gentle roller.

Now there were generations of people who pulled off the river to ride the rollers, with, of course, the all-important life jacket. You felt one with nature as you, at times, felt the smooth, huge boulders below us. Ya, you have to be a strong swimmer to make it back to shore, but there was a huge sandy beach to pull yourself out of the river.

We pulled into the widest stop of the river like a lake. Here was the Maupin park. The wildest water fights you can imagine. Rafts with buckets terrify each other, water guns, surgical tubing, anything at hand, paddles, trying to sink each other. This is an old tradition, decades old, where people just let go. Then, exhausted, you pull into the park where we bailed out the raft and had a nice picnic.