Clackamas River Float

Friday afternoon my coworker and friend Esther and I took a trip to the Clackamas River for the first time. Being that we've had a heat wave recently, it was slim pickins as far as a float goes. I ended up finding a "2 person" "raft" at Fred Meyers, complete with flimsy oars. We picked up some life jackets and headed 40 mins. south to Milo McIver Park. We left my car at the bottom and took hers to the put in. After pumping up the damn thing I was dripping with sweat and anxious to get in the water. This river is a very popular spot in the summer time especially on 96 degree days. Being that it was an early Friday afternoon however, it was pretty quiet.

This pic is taken just before we embark at the launch. Obviously I don't have anymore pics for you guys. Hopefully I can find a waterproof case for my camera sometime soon. So I hop in the front of this child size raft which puts me awkwardly in Esther's lap. Almost immediately after you put in is the first and biggest set of rapids. These are very small easy to manage rapids, but for us first timers it was a bit scary at first. We hadn't quite gotten situated before we were headed backwards and in circles down the rapids, bouncing along screaming and laughing. Got wet and man, it felt good. The rest of the float is for the most part pretty mellow and relaxing with just a few more rapids. After we knew what to expect it wasn't scary at all and we had a blast. The water level is low right now so we bottomed out several times and bruised our butts a little, but made it all the way without capsizing. We just took a short 1 1/2 hour trip but you can go on to a 4 plus hour float if you want.

Yesterday at work Esther blurts out "let's go to the river!" So we do. We head to Les Schwab and get a giant sized inner tube. My Explorer is coming in quite handy with things like this. We put in at the same spot as last trip, this time on our 2 person inner tube. Hilarity ensues. We are more proficient this time, knowing the curves of the river and the currents. The tube is more comfortable on the behind, but a little clumsy with 2 people on it and such a large doughnut hole. We got stuck on rocks a few times and managed to bounce our way off a couple of them. At one point though we just couldn't get free so Esther gets off the tube to push us off the rocks, but doesn't get on the tube in time. So I'm floating away and have to jam my oar in the rocks and get stuck again so she can catch up. Mind you we are in hysterics laughing the whole time. We see a few ospreys and jumping fish. We only take a short 1 hour trip this time. When Esther gets off the tube it rocks me into the river and I swear I tried to get up like 4 times before I managed to my feet. Everything is much harder when you are cracking up. Again I'd like to emphasize that I was in shallow water with a life jacket on, so don't worry Grandma. :) We have to climb up a rather steep bank to get to our car and my sandals are wet and slippery and I end up sliding down the hill into a blackberry bush hahaha. I am still picking stickers out of my hand today. Oh man, I wish we could have had this trip on camera.