Hoh River Raft Trip

The Hoh River winds down from Mt. Olympus through the Hoh Rain Forest, and we’re going to cruise down a relatively quiet section of river for a few hours of relaxing nature viewing.  Our raft trip is a  Class I to II- guided scenic float trip with some mild whitewater.

The guide in my raft, Wild Bill, is pretty funny.  He and his fellow rafters are the kind of guys you might see on extreme sports shows. They call everyone ‘dude’ and seem very relaxed and at ease. Bill emphasizes the importance of safety, pointing out the various calamities that can occur and ending each warning with “bad, … more paperwork for Bill…”.

Regardless of the fairly easy nature of the trip, two of the women  are very nervous. One sits in the middle and never lets go of the people on either side of her.  I sit in the middle because I'm lazy and don’t want to paddle.  A woman named Jan asks me not to let go of her.  So every time we go over a ripple of any sort, I hold on to her life vest and say… “I've saved your life… again!”  Between my life-saving activities ((hah) we enjoy the wit of Wild Bill, talking about critters that we *might* see, that he *had* seen, that we *could* see.  Mostly what we see is… you guessed it… insects. Ok, there are some birds, too.

At one point, to emphasize that I was NOT scared, I switch seats from middle to edge of the raft and dangle one foot at a time (at  Bill’s suggestion) in the water. This precaution helps prevent me from gracefully slipping into the water.  If I *were* to slip into the water by accident, I'd be inclined to head towards a logjam thinking, "I'll grab onto a log."

Bill's advice is to do just the opposite.   He explains the danger of  ‘strainers”--logjams that form when the rapid current catches logs in the river and brings them together.  The river water is usually fastest there, and it goes under the logjam, taking careless, leg-dangling rafters with it.

So I dangle a foot at a time and then return to my perch where I can save Jan’s life—again.

At the end of the raft trip we return to Kalaloch to our cabin by the sea, and another great dinner.  I think… I’m not sure… I may turn into a salmon.

 (I regret that I have no photos because I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet.  For an idea of rafting on the Hoh, please visit  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAj80Qzsed8