Jerry's Rogue Jets

On Thursday morning we headed to Gold Beach's harbor to meet our tour guide from Jerry's Rogue Jets. The excursion I had planned for our family was an 80 mile round trip speed motorboat tour on the Rogue River. The map below shows the length of the journey. The Rogue River travels east out of Gold Beach through the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon. Our tour was to travel the length of the river to just north of the very small town of Agness (population of less than 100 people), about 3/4 of river that is regularly travelled by Jerry's boats. 

It was a foggy, misty morning. The harbor was relatively still as we headed out on the boat.

We saw some harbor seals bobbing in the water several times.

The temperature was chilly, so we were bundled up in sweatshirts and windbreakers. We also used wool blankets provided by the tour company to cover our legs. A staff member from Jerry's had told us the weather was predicted to reach 80 degrees up river, and I was hopeful that she was correct because I was quite cold once we got moving fast and had the added wind chill. I don't know how fast we were traveling at top speed, but I would guess maybe 50 to 60 miles per hour?

Finally, there was a break in the clouds and we could see sunlight up ahead. The scenery changed quite a bit along the journey. The land started out relatively flat with rolling hills and pine trees reaching all the way to the shore. Further up the river, the riverbed was more rocky and the elevation to the right and the left of the river seemed higher.

They hate and protest when I ask to take a family photo! At least John and Amelia are smiling nicely.

Eventually we were in full sunlight so we could remove the wool blankets. This is a picture of another boat ahead of us so that you can see how quickly the jet boat is roaring down the river.

Our captain stopped the boat several times, either to tell us about the history or geography of the river, or when he spotted wildlife on the river banks. Below is a photo of two bald eagles perched in a tree next to the river bed. Very cool! Their white plume stick out so clearly against the dark green leaves.

The scenery was gorgeous and it was thrilling to travel up the river on a jet boat. The captain took us for several 360 degree spins on the river. Those were fun! 

Just before we stopped for lunch, we travelled through the white water section of the river. We all got SOAKED. The jet boats are flat and rigid, and they designed to plummet through the white water. This was thrilling and shocking at the same time. 

It was thrilling because you never knew which way the boat would bounce or turn, or which sections would get wet. It was shocking because of how ice cold the water felt going down your back underneath your clothing. Our captain always told us when a white water section was coming up ahead, but none of us realized how shockingly cold the water would feel. Luckily, we were able to sit in the warm sun on a deck for lunch and we all dried out relatively well. Below is the path leading from the lodge where we enjoyed lunch, heading back to the dock on the river. 

Notice the wide expanse of gravel and sand on the river bank in the photo above. There were several places on the river where we saw people camping in RVs on these expanses of sand.

We enjoyed more gorgeous scenery on the way back to Gold Beach. We also saw ducks, egrets, and several other types of birds.

Overall, the tour was a lot of fun. We all really enjoyed getting a glimpse of the scenery of inner Oregon, and the fact that the jet boats had us doing 360 degree turns and whitewater boating made the tour exciting at the same time.

After we returned to Gold Beach, we headed south towards Crescent City, California, our stop for the night. Once we crossed into California we were driving almost exclusively next to the ocean. We found more beautiful coastal scenery here so we got out for a closer look. 

By now it was quite warm, much different that the chilly start of our day. 

Finally, we made it to Crescent City, which turned out to be the most disappointing stop on our trip. While we never intended to spend much time in each of the towns we stayed in overnight (all were selected for convenience to a desired attraction or as a good stopping point on the drive), it was still nice to talk around or enjoy the better towns when we had a few hours to kill before or after dinner. Crescent City was disappointing in that the harbor area was not well-suited for tourists, nor were the restaurant options immediately appealing. The beach area was pretty though.

We spent our first hour hot and frustrated, walking all over the "harbor" trying to find something to like about Crescent City other than strip malls and pancake houses. Finally, we found a fun craft brewery where we enjoyed a drink before Amelia found us a cute Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. I don't have any photos of the night, but we wished Amelia a very happy 14th birthday in Crescent City! We eventually had a pleasant evening and we were well-positioned to get to the redwood parks the next day.