By Bob Van Leer

  At Argo the water craft were waiting for us. There were two rafts, paddle boat and five "tahitis", a sort of an open rubber fabric kayak. We put on life jackets, piled into our choice of crafts and headed down river. The rafts are of a space-age plastic made by a Grants Pass firm. Rob and Chris took the paddle boat, where passengers have to paddle, and I went on a raft where you sit and watch the boatman row when needed.

  From Argo to Grave Creek the white water patches are mild and a good way to get practice before heavy water begins. At Grave Creek this changes. In rapid succession are Grave Creek Riffle and Grave Creek Falls. The falls claimed three of the tahatis. Two young boys and Colvin took a tumble there. This was not a real problem, just a dunking and a lesson about how not to do it.

   From there the descent is mild to Rainie Falls, the worst white water on the trip. Rapids are classed on a scale of 1 to 6. Rainie Falls is classed as 6. Almost everyone portages at the falls. The craft are lined and pulled around one of two chutes blasted into the rock on the north side. The water is very low this year making the portage more difficult. Passengers were let out on the south side to watch the falls and look over the scenery. The falls are deceptive for boaters. Some go over the falls. But at the bottom end is a pool that is mostly foam, not water, and boats don't float on foam so the boat goes underneath.

  The water is warm, 72 degrees at Grants Pass according to McNair, and salmon in the river are holding at side streams entering the river with colder water

Below the falls we saw the first dead salmon. During the three days we saw 50-100 dead fish. Too many, but not a whole lot compared to what I've seen on the river in other years. Our oarsman, Greg, said the nine miles from Rainie Falls to Black Bar is the steepest part of the trip. The drop is 18 feet per mile.

  At Howard Creek we stopped for lunch and a dip in a cool pool. Rob switched to one of the tahitis and paddled it the rest of the way except a section where he wasn't allowed. And he never dunked. Chris tried one a couple of times and took one dunking. But he preferred the paddle boat.

  Black Bar is the first of the wilderness lodges that provide overnight accommodations in the canyon. But our first night out will be camping so we passed on by the lodge.

At Horseshoe Bend below Black Bar we had the only potentially serious incident of the trip. Brandon, 11, was in a tahiti. He was supposed to stay to the right of the river but lost control and was swept into the rock wall on the left side. His tahiti flipped and he went into the water.

  Then he disappeared. An undertow took him under the water. I was on a raft with his mother and there were some tense moments until he bobbed up perhaps 10 yards below where he went under. The boy had been enjoying the trip, but he was considerable shook up after that.

CAMPING FIRST CLASS

  Just below Horseshoe Bend we pulled in to camp for the night.  A guide had taken a raft through earlier and had camp set up for us. Denny takes the "roughing it" out of camping. When we arrived, tents and sleeping bags were set up, the cooking area was ready, tables and chairs were set up and there was chilled wine on the table.

  A couple of unconcerned buck deer strolled down to the river for water.

  Denny emphasizes excellent food on his trips. One guide referred to it as a "float and bloat" trip.

  Ben Winters of the Rod 'n Reel provides the food service. Winters has gone on the trips to see the procedure and what needs to be done. As facilities on gravel bars are limited, everything is packed so that just the right thing comes out next. Lunches were served picnic style during the day and at the camp Denny prepared grilled steaks and his specialty, fresh biscuits, along with other dishes. Denny has a large, deep pan for biscuit making and a lid with a rim around it in which he heaps coals from the fire to make sort of a dutch oven. It works very well.