Kayaking 101 - Grande Ronde

Highlights

• Explore through Our Grande Ronde kayaking adventure travels some 36 miles through a wilderness of pine-studded canyons, on waters protected as part of the National Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. Towering mountains and formations of volcanic rock from the Columbia Basalt flows make for a dramatic setting.
• Experience Kayak as every participant on this trip is furnished with an inflatable kayak about 11-feet in length. These are stable and fairly easy to maneuver, making them an ideal platform for learning how to run white water rivers on this kayaking adventure. Each day of adventure we paddle about 10 miles on fast-flowing water, getting instruction from your guides along the way.
• We are sure to leave plenty of time to stop and hike to vistas of the Blue Mountains and the canyons of the river. We make camp by the river’s edge each evening. On the kayaking adventure we may see Rocky Mountain big horn sheep, elk, mule deer and coyote. If river levels allow, we’ll spend our third day as a “layover day” and take a longer hike into the mountains, returning to our same camp mid-afternoon.
• Unlike other ROW Adventures’ trips, which lean towards the luxury end of service and camping, on this self-support kayaking trip everyone carries their own overnight bag in their kayak and chips in to set up camp. Meals are ROW’s standard five-course camp gourmet fare and participants who wish may learn how to do Dutch oven cooking alongside the guides. Those who choose to do so will learn how to bake salmon with a huckleberry and maple syrup glaze, prepare awesome camp lasagna, cook a variety of cakes and on the final night, prepare a prime rib!
• Our adventure guides will also demonstrate packing and rigging techniques for those interested. For those that want to learn the basic skills for organizing a self-support kayaking trip, this is the perfect introduction!

What's this trip about?

This new Grande Ronde kayaking trip won "2010 Trips of the Year" from Outside Magazine who stated, "Our mission: Sort through 763 of the world's most spectacular new outfitted adventures and choose 20 that will blow your mind, but not your savings..." Tucked away in the Blue Mountains, in the extreme northeast corner of Oregon, flows the fast but gentle Grande Ronde River, the perfect place to learn how to read water and paddle your own inflatable kayak. While we also offer a Grande Ronde whitewater rafting and Grande Ronde fly fishing trips, this adventure is designed for people who want to learn how to kayak and run their own kayaking adventure.

Accommodation