By 2007, we were done with mountaineering (a good run, but let’s not push it…), starting to do more hiking, and had done a little rafting (if you can call the Grand Canyon little 🙄 ). So, on the way back from some hikes near Lakeview (Crook Peak, Gearhart Wilderness) we thought it would be fun to sign-up for a half-day paddle raft trip on the Deschutes River. There were a bunch of people signed-up as well but, due to some inexplicable sorting behavior, all of them ended-up in one raft and we had one guide and a raft to ourselves. The Deschutes south of Bend packs a lot of fun whitewater into a short distance and we had a great time crashing in and out of the rapids. This only cemented our desire to do more rafting (which we did) and, of course, more hiking (we did that too). We also eventually figured out how to combine rafting and hiking! 🙂
BOOTS on the TRAIL 