Monday at Hellgate

We had promised ourselves for many years that we would do the Hellgate dinner cruise and Lucy booked us in for Monday. She and Scott had to skip off work a bit early to get there for about 4 pm. The boats that leave Grants Pass and head up to Hellgate Canyon are powerful beasts - 1,100 hp engines pulling about 70 of us along at speeds of 45-50 mph - and they can go much faster, but the water level is so low this year, they have had to throttle back a bit.

Our first soaking didn't take long - just a few minutes up the river and Bo, our driver, slammed on the brakes - Jo demonstrates the result above. After that, there were a few 360 degree turns and general racing round the tight bends of the Rogue river - it was pretty exhilarating. After about an hour, we finally arrived at Hellgate canyon, where many old movies have been shot - John Wayne, Gunsmoke etc. The rocks are high and the river is tight - just enough to get the boats through.

Dinner was on the decking of a huge restaurant run by the organisers up a hill at the side of a bend in the river - pretty spot. The deer are tame here as well and used to tourists - they can even be fed by hand. There were at least 5 boats, so perhaps 350-400 people eating at once. Cade took a couple of photos of Scott, Jo and I and the one above is almost in focus! The service was very slick and organised and it was a full dinner, with starters of olives, nibbles etc, followed by the usual salad, then chicken and ribs with veg and potatoes, and rounded up by berry cobbler again. There was unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks by the pitcher and we were entertained by a singer/guitarist who went through a familier repertoire of old hits - including, surprisingly, some Shadows stuff like Apache - didn't think that stuff was known much here.

It was a short stroll back down the hill to board the boats again and then the fun really began. Our driver and his pal in an adjacent boat started racing each other and creating wakes for the other boat to traverse and give the riders another good soaking or three! They even got so close that the passengers were linking hands across the boats at 35 mph! - doubt if this had been cleared with their insurers!

The trip back was therefore much shorter but pretty exciting and, as the sun was now down behind the hills, each time we got soaked, we stayed pretty cold - Cade and Braeden donned sweaters, which we had brought along for just such an eventuality.

The organisers take photos of each of the boats as they pass under the main bridge at Grants Pass on the way up, and Lucy was the lucky recipient of a free photo.