White Water Rafting, Kayaking & Hiking Blog

In 2007 a group of South Coast avid hikers decided to blaze a 6-plus-mile, user-friendly nature trail--calling it The Rogue River Walk--along the lower south bank of the Rogue River, near Gold Beach.

The original intent of the Rogue River Walk was recreational hiking. However, as construction proceeded, it was recognized that one particular segment consisted of riparian woodland: snags, deciduous trees, and thickets of low-growing shrubs--exceptional bird habitat. Songbirds and woodpeckers flourish here.

As a result, the 2-mile Jim Hunt Loop was created for birdwatchers. This is the most productive section, a hot spot on the trail for birders, designed so there is no need to retrace steps.

After 18 months of steady toil, the RRW is complete. Its length meanders under towering cedar, oak, and madrone while weaving between aged, inter-twined willow, elderberry and stands of giant horsetail. Hikers also pass through an aptly named "Mystic Myrtles" grove carpeted with sorrel and overgrown pioneer homesteads. Some interpretive markers are posted. Seasonal wildflowers abound.

If you are interested in a map with directions and completed details, you can pick up a copy at the Gold Beach Visitor Center.

Information on the Rogue River Walk was provided by the October 2010 edition of Oregon Coast magazine.

About the Author: Joy Henkle owns and operates White Water Warehouse (WWW) with her husband, Bob Meister. Ever-interested in making their Oregon Rogue River rafting, kayaking, and hiking trips part of a very special Oregon vacation experience for their guests, Joy writes this blog to educate and inform WWW guests and readers about southern Oregon's fascinating people, places, foods, and festivals. Questions? Joy can be reached at 1-800-214-0579 or fun@whitewaterwarehouse.com Or visit Whitewater Warehouse's FaceBook page.

The tiny Oregon town of Jacksonville has a rich 150 year old history. In 1861, a couple of muleteers spied a glint of yellow in Rich Gulch, off Jackson Creek. Before the ensuing southern Oregon gold rush ended, Jacksonville had grown into a prosperous county seat. In all, $34 million in gold dust--worth almost $2 billion today--tipped the scales at Cornelius Beekman's bank.

The bank and Beekman's modest house remain meticulously preserved. "It's like Beek--that's what everybody called him--went home from work one evening and didn't come back," says Terri Gieg, who narrates trolley tours that start at the bank. "The scales where he weighed all that gold are still there."

Peter Britt, a Swiss immigrant who arrived in 1852. Britt's house and gardens are gone, victims of fire and neglect, yet his influence is everywhere. He planted the area's first wine grapes and later lent his last name to the town's renowned summer music festival, staged on the grounds of his former estate. There are few pastimes more pleasurable than spreading a blanket at dusk and savoring a "Brittnic" of local wines and foods while performers--classical pianist Emanuel Ax, country legend Willie Nelson--electrify the warm night air.

Britt wore many hats:  horticulturist, vinter, painter, shrewd investor, and prolific photographer of Jacksonville's settlers and streetscapes--a legacy that has proved crucial in recent preservation crusades. The whole of Jacksonville's downtown has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

To do and see:  Applegate Valley Wine Trail, Britt Festivals, Self-guided tours, Trolley tours

Eats:  Carriage House Restaurant, Jacksonville Inn, Mamma Mia Gelateria

Sleeps:  Jacksonville Inn, Magnolia Inn, Nunan Estate, TouVelle House

A portion of this article was re-printed from the September/October 2010 VIA magazine.

By Ted Trueblood, associate editor of Field & Stream, Spring 1981 in the Foreword to "Rogue, A River to Run"

"This is the story of a unique man. One of the definitions of unique in my dictionary is "being without a like or equal." That fits Glen Wooldridge to a T. He is a river man. There are none like him and I contend he has no equal.

He first ran Oregon's Rogue River from Grants Pass, 120 miles inland, to Gold Beach, on the Pacific, in 1915. He is still running it as I write this in the Spring of 1981 (Glen died in 1986). He built the boat for that first trip and he is still building them. His boats, or other patterned after them, are used on every wild, fast, dangerous river in the West.

He began guiding Rogue River float trips in 1917 and he was the first to run upstream from Gold Beach to Grants Pass, in 1947. The next year he accepted the challenge of Idaho's River of No Return, the Salmon, so called because early day boat men could run it downstream, but not back up. Wooldridge ran it upstream from Riggins to Salmon City, virtually across the state. He was the first, as he was to run the Klamath upstream.

Other rivers he mastered are the Yankee Juim Canyon of the Yellowstone, part of the Colorado, the Hells Canyon stretch of the Snake, the Yukon, and in British Columbia the Bella Coola, Atnarko, Dean and the North Fork of the Thompson.

But his first love remains the Rogue and if you move a rock anywhere along it I'm sure he would notice the change. He was the first Rogue River guide and the most famous. His clientele included Zane Grey, Victor Moore, Guy Kibee, Clark Gable, and Herbert Hoover, as well as many others who could afford to go anywhere they chose. One reason was that he is a superb boatman and splendid angler. Another is his personality. I've been on the river with him when the gray clouds hung in the tree tops, the cold rain would have chilled an otter, and fish were not to be found.

Yet he was never cross, never impatient, and if he was ever discouraged he concealed it well. His conversation is spiced with witticisms and he has a story for every bend in the river.

He is the best story teller I know. Most of this book is in Glen Wooldridge's own words - the same stories that charmed his guests for more then 60 years on the Rogue River. Florence Arman has had the good judgment to leave them the way he told them. They can't be improved upon."

Ted Trueblood's foreword to the book The Rogue, A River to Run by Florence Arman with Glen Wooldridge, originally published 1982, is in its eight printing. Available from Wooldridge boats.

"Beginning of Outboard Jet"

Excerpted from, "The Rogue, A River to Run", by Florence Arman with Glen Wooldridge.

"that same year (1962) a new invention revolutionized outboard motor boating on whitewater rivers. It enabled Glen to streamline his boat design into the sleek Wooldridge Sled on the market today. This invention was Dick Stallman's outboard Jet Unit, a small snail-shaped housing replacing the lower unit of propeller housing on the outboard motor. Its intake siphons in water and whirls it around the spiral housing, then shoots it out in a thousand-gallon-per minute stream. Mounted with the forward edge of the intake scoop flush with the bottom of the boat, and its trailing edge only three inches of water over gravelly river bottoms or rocks.

Stallman, the 34-year-old inventor from San Carlos, California, had been working on the jet unit on the Rogue, in the Agness area. He believed that testing the equipment on the Rogue was probably the toughest test he could give it,…..

Stallman and his father manufactured bearings. Dick was a machinist, and he thought up the idea of the jet unit. He started tinkering with it, and he is a pretty shrewd fellow. He was wise enough to put these ideas together and get it to work.

He told me he wanted to give it a test, to run it from Gold Beach to Grants Pass, so I furnished the boats for the run. I had a 35-horse Evinrude and he had two Johnson motors. He made the jet for my motor and had his Johnsons mounted with jets. We went over to Gold Beach and made the run upriver,…

The party took four days to make the 120 mile trip, breaking it up into easy 30-miles-per-day runs. They averaged about 22 miles per hour actual running time on the entire trip. The water was low for the season, but with the jet units enabling them to navigate water as low as three inches, they encountered no problems and had no mechanical difficulties. They lined the boats at Rainie Falls and Grave Creek, but ran the rest of the river by power. Popular mechanics, Sports Illustrated, Popular boating and Boating all ran the story of the trip in 1963 issues"

About the Author: Joy Henkle owns and operates White Water Warehouse (WWW) with her husband, Bob Meister. Ever-interested in making their Oregon Rogue River rafting, kayaking, and hiking trips part of a very special Oregon vacation experience for their guests, Joy writes this blog to educate and inform WWW guests and readers about southern Oregon's fascinating people, places, foods, and festivals. Questions? Joy can be reached at 1-800-214-0579 or fun@whitewaterwarehouse.com Or visit Whitewater Warehouse's FaceBook page.

We're delighted that several incredible southern Oregon food artisans have come together to offer Whitewater Warehouse's guests samples of their amazing products on the August 29 - 31 Rogue River gourmet wine & food trip. The food stars that will be titillating the taste buds of our Rogue River guests are: Lillie Belle Farms Chocolates' Ultimate Martini White chocolates (made from Organic Nation Spirit's gin!), Rogue Creamery's Blue Cheese, honey wheat crackers from Deux Chats Bakery, and signature Rogue River martinis made from Organic Nation Spirits' gin and vodka!  Organic Nation Spirits owners, Diane and Dave will be joining our Rogue River guests so they can talk about, create, and serve their fantastic signature martinis each night paired with these other southern Oregon artisan foods.

Guests on this trip are about the luckiest folks on the planet. Not only is Whitewater Warehouse's fabulous french chef preparing his wonderful meals paired with incredible wines each night but everyone gets to taste a little bit of southern Oregon food heaven as well. Call 1-800-214-0579 for more information about this amazing trip.

One of three "first" photographs of Crate Lake taken by explorer, Peter Britt in the fall of 1874.

Crater Lake is filled with rain and melted snow that fell within the caldera basin. Crater Lake is isolated from surrounding streams and rivers, thus there is no inlet or outlet to the lake. Its primary input is from annual precipitation in the region. Average annual precipitation is 168 cm (66 in); average annual snowfall is 13 m (44 ft). It took approximately 250 years for the lake to fill to today's level (~1,883 m or ~6,178 ft above sea level). The lake maintains its current level because the amount of rain and snowfall equals the evaporation and seepage rate. Lake level has varied only over a range of 5 m (16 ft) in the past 100 years. Crater Lake is known to be the deepest lake in the United States and the seventh deepest in the world. A maximum lake depth of 608 m (1,996 ft) was recorded by a group of USGS representatives in 1886 using piano wire and lead weight. The maximum depth of 589 m (1,932 ft) was established in 1959 by the USGS using sonar measurement. This depth is referenced at the surface elevation of 1,882 m (6,176 ft). But since its primary input source is dependent upon the climate, lake level is subject to abrupt changes. Crater Lake partially fills the collapsed caldera of the ancient Mount Mazama Volcano. The caldera is a bowl-shape depression of about 1,219 m (4,000 ft) deep. The maximum depth of Crater Lake recorded at the time of the July 2000 multibeam survey was 594 m ( 1,949 ft). The lake level had an elevation of 1,883 m (6,178 ft) above sea level at the time of the survey. The lake level of Crater Lake fluctuates according to the climate.

Late summer 1874, Peter Britt posed his son, Emil, at the edge of Crater Lake's caldera.

The record clarity of Crater Lake was measured at a depth of 41 m (134 ft) in August 1994. The lake clarity is measured with a secchi disk, a black and white disk lowered into the water with a cable. Its exceptional clarity is mainly due to its isolation from streams and rivers. There is no incoming stream to bring any organic materials, sediments, or chemicals to pollute the lake, although natural plankton in the lake and wind-borne pollen have seasonal effects on water clarity. Particulate materials and chemicals are mainly introduced into the lake through precipitation and run-off of the calderal walls. The caldera wall is composed of volcanic rocks that do not react with or dissolve easily in cold water, although warm water escaping from the caldera floor adds a small amount of dissolved solids.

Joy Henkle, owner of Whitewater Warehouse demos the company's famous Chiptole Cabbage Slaw dressing...

Diane Paulson and David Eliason, owners of Organic Nation Spirits embody the entrepreneurial spirit. They have a passion for the southern Oregon organic gin and vodkas that they create. Known as a micro-distillary, Organic Nation Spirits believes that their small batch creations make a difference. Must be true because consumers are sipping up and taking notice! This small company is winning all kinds of taste awards.

Well, we love quality and passion too. So it isn't any surprise that we have made friends with Diane and Dave and have asked them to be the stars of our last 2010 lodge trip. They will be bringing their beautiful spirits with them and creating signature martinis each night after a long day of sun and fun on the beautiful Rogue River. We're calling the trip Martini Madness. You might just call it fantastic!

Are  you interested in joining us? We have 4 guest spaces remaining on this lodge to lodge gourmet food, wine and martini trip. Begins on Sunday, August 29 and ends on Tuesday, August 31. Cost is $1040/adult...and includes all food, lodging, rafting gear, etc...call Joy at 1-800-214-0579 to reserve the last few spaces on this one of a kind Rogue River trip.

In our last post, we talked about the talented Jan Roberts-Dominguez. She is a noted food specialist and also a fine artist. We admired Jan's work so much that we decided to give her a call and issue her a  challenge. We asked her to create an outstanding river salad; made from fresh, local ingredients for our Whitewater Warehouse rafting, kayaking and hiking guests. Well, Jan responded and she delivered the goods! Here, in all its glory, is the recipe for Rogue River Salad. You can find this recipe in Jan's upcoming hazelnut cookbook entitled "Oregon Hazelnut Country -- The Food, The Drink, The Spirit."

Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a multi-talented artist. A food writer who pairs her mouth-watering recipes with her beautiful, original watercolors and interesting prose, she is truly a multi-faceted artisan. Currently writing a new cookbook called, "Oregon Hazelnut Country -- the Food, the Drink, the Spirit, " Jan embodies today's food lovers striving to use local sourced ingredients.

We recently asked Jan to create a Rogue River salad for our Whitewater Warehouse rafting, kayaking, and hiking guests to enjoy. She did exactly that for us. Here in her words, is a great story about her personal river travels and how that experience helped her to create this original salad for our Whitewater Warehouse guests. This is a long blog but worth the read...enjoy!

"Corvallis-based white water river guides, Joy Henkle and Bob Meister handed me a most delightful assignment. It began with a note: "We have a Rogue River rafting business that is based out of Corvallis and we are big foodies here. We grow a lot of the food we serve our guests in our Willamette Valley gardens. Also, we serve Oregon hazelnuts to our rafting guests each summer (we buy them direct from a local farmer), and get rave reviews."

"We're very interested in giving our guests the highest quality local foods, especially since many of them come from the California area and really appreciate our efforts to supply them with a top-notch Oregon food experience. We're always looking for the 'perfect' river lunch salad. I make one with homemade pesto, but do you have any other ideas for great river salads?"

"This started me on a nostalgic jog down memory lane to my own ultimate river salad experience: The year was 1978. It was the first day into a 3-day white water rafting trip on the north folk of The American River in northern California. We'd beached the rafts for a break.

"What's for lunch?" we paddlers wondered. The guide and his crew had set out cutting boards on a big fat log and were pulling fresh carrots, celery, green onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, and hard boiled eggs from their dry bags.

"Tuna salad sandwiches," said our guide as he tumbled his pile of chopped veggies and egg into a huge pot. Out came the cans of tuna, some fresh mayonniase, and sliced olives. All of these ingredients combined into the most amazing tuna salad sandwich I have ever experienced.

"Now, I'm sure that ambiance had a bit to do with it, as well as a hearty appetite from a morning of paddling through class 3 rapids. But still, it was a dynamic combination of ingredients which I have always enjoyed.

"Composing a salad for the Henkle-Meister's river adventures should definitely contain some serious Northwest specialties, I thought. So in went the hazelnuts, Walla Walla Sweets, and some smokey bacon from one of the region's finest pork producers, Carlton Farms. As a nod to the river they're running, a bit of Rogue Creamery's Blue cheese as well.

"I patterned this salad after a salsa I created under similar circumstances: outdoors, on a camping trip in the Oregon coast range, with a bag full of sun-ripened tomatoes and a couple of luscious Walla Walla Sweet onions. My fellow campers were the official taste testers and Walla Walla Salsa Salsa was given thumbs up all around at Happy Hour.

"For the salad approach, I added chicken, basil, and hazelnuts, and Rogue Creamery Blue, of course! Maybe some day I'll enjoy it alongside its namesake, after a day on the water. Bon Appetit, Joy. Thanks for the challenge!"

No, Jan, THANK YOU! Readers...look for the actual recipe that Jan created for us on our Friday, August 6th blog. We will also be featuring photos of the actual salad. You'll also be able to find the recipe for the salad in her soon to be released cookbook, "OREGON HAZELNUT COUNTRY -- The Food, The Drink, The Spirits"

Want to experience the Rogue River's rapids up close and personal? Do you enjoy the fun of maneuvering through a set of rapids and then coming into quiet water? If all that makes you giddy, then make sure to reserve an inflatable kayak (IK, for short) from Whitewater Warehouse on your next Rogue River rafting and kayaking trip with the company. Here some fun photos taken of several of our inflatable kayakers on the July 18 - 20, 2010 Rogue River rafting and kayaking trip.

OK, no big surprise that Sam, our 21 year old office staff person, LOVED this photo--it's all boy!

View of a little more mellow river time!

Here's another inflatable kayaking "Sam Favorite"

Back to cruis'in in the IK on the many fun Rogue River rapids! About the Author: Joy Henkle owns and operates White Water Warehouse (WWW) with her husband, Bob Meister. Ever-interested in making their Oregon Rogue River rafting, kayaking, and hiking trips part of a very special Oregon vacation experience for their guests, Joy writes this blog to educate and inform WWW guests and readers about southern Oregon's fascinating people, places, foods, and festivals. Questions? Joy can be reached at 1-800-214-0579 or fun@whitewaterwarehouse.com Or visit Whitewater Warehouse's FaceBook page.