Rogue River, Day 1: Argo Launch to Tyee Bar

We arrived in Galice on the evening of August 10. We had booked a room at The Galice Resort, across the street from our rendezvous point with Rogue River Journeys -- an outfitter based in Bayside, California -- the next morning at 8 a.m. The establishment had a restaurant, and perhaps more importantly, a bar.

Our room only had two beds (but even more vitally a shower, because we would be on the river for the next three nights). So we brought a cot, and the three of us "roughed it" a bit on the first night.

The next morning, we met Beau (below) -- who in addition to Kathryn, Will, Chip and Phil -- was one of five river guides employed by Rogue River Journeys for this trip. A research forester from Missoula, Montana, Beau has spent many a summer as a river guide on a number of waterways in the western United States.

After breakfast and a pre-launch meeting in the parking lot, we proceeded to Argo Launch -- less than two miles from the beginning of the wild and scenic (read: wilderness) section of the Rogue River corridor. Frank and I jumped into Beau's raft and Kelly had his hard-shell kayak. The "flotilla," if you will, included five rafts, a half-dozen inflatable kayaks and about a dozen hard-shell kayakers.

After wrapping all our stuff into dry bags and a brief orientation session -- including showing us how to pull "swimmers" back into a boat -- we embarked. The river was mellow at first, but it didn't take long to reach our first Class III rapid at Grave Creek. Further down river at Rainey Falls, we skirted the rough stuff by taking the fish ladder, but hard-shell kayak instructor Phil DeRiemer (below) braved the 12-foot drop along the left bank in textbook fashion.

All in all a very pleasant day in a raft: with the sun beating down on us, the splash water provided a refreshing interlude through a number of riffles and rapids like our last serious rapid (below) before establishing camp at Tyee Bar.

After disembarking at Tyee Bar, the guides -- who had set up a shady spot with tarp and oars and distributed cold beer and pop liberally -- unloaded the rafts and initiated preparations for dinner. As I relaxed with a cold Budweiser shaded from the hot sun, I almost felt guilty.

In case you're wondering, the operative word there is "almost."