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Great RV trip: low-hassle hiking with wine

kevinh

Well Known Member
Hi ya'll,

So I thought I'd contribute a small trip report. Last weekend we went on a four day "wiking" trip along the Rogue River in Oregon. I really enjoy hiking/camping but this trip was appealing for the following reasons:
  • My wife is not a big fan of camping - this trip has us in lodges each night.
  • The full hike is 40 miles, but you can bail out and take a raft if you want to skip a portion (good for my so-so knee).
  • The boats carry all your stuff - you only need a day pack (water + camera etc...)
  • The guide company will pick-up and drop-off at the Grants Pass airport (3S8) (so a perfect RV destination). Just get the plane tied down in time for an 8am pickup.
  • A vintner goes along on the trip and hosts nice wine tasting every night.
  • Nice swimming holes.
  • Fly out of 3S8 at 5pm the last day. If weather is bad or you are tired, they can also drop-off at local hotels. Decent dining in town.
  • Easy-cheezy!

The very pleasant two hour flight to Grant's Pass looked like this:



Or my lovely wife's (& cobuilder) preferred view from the aircraft:



Lots of great views along the hike (the mostly shaded trail generally followed the river):





If your feet got tired, there was always the boat:



At night we'd drink nice wines at three lodges along the trail:





Highly recommended! If you want to go, I recommend you ask about attending one of Liz's wine treks. They also have rafting and fishing trips. Here's the firm we used - they seem to be quite respected:

Wild Rogue

If anyone has any questions or wants more pictures, I'm happy to add more details...
 
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Wow

OK so that trip looks perfect. Enough wild and scenic nature to make the wines taste even better. I can see doing this next summer
 
Great trip!

You guys like extreme don't you? :D I remember that trip of yours to Burning Man couple years ago want to go myself. Next year maybe...

Post more wine testing pictures don't forget disclaimers :D
 
Yep - Jet boats look fun. I'd recommend the rafts though for a multiday trip - they go much further up river (starting from the other direction and not stopped by rocks). Also, Grants Pass seems to generally have better weather.
 
Yep - Jet boats look fun. I'd recommend the rafts though for a multiday trip - they go much further up river (starting from the other direction and not stopped by rocks). Also, Grants Pass seems to generally have better weather.

True on the weather, I spent an unplanned night there - being VFR only.

However, my two trips through Grants Pass into Oregon in July/Aug this year were at 1500 ft AGL and only after a few delays...:)
 
Man that's living! You guys that are taking your significant other on this fantastic trips should be enough inspiration for all VAF readers to have an airplane - good show!

Thanks for sharing!
 
Paradise grass strip?

I have the same photo somewhere of that mailbox at paradise... Did float fishing trip down the Rogue a couple years ago. Pretty majestic scenery.

I seem to recall a grass strip behind the lodge their at paradise, how cool would it be if they got that thing cleaned up? There was lots of old memorabilia on the walls and photos of old taildraggers stopping in. Lots of famous people and a few Presidents use to frequent the place back in the day.
 
I seem to recall a grass strip behind the lodge their at paradise, how cool would it be if they got that thing cleaned up? There was lots of old memorabilia on the walls and photos of old taildraggers stopping in. Lots of famous people and a few Presidents use to frequent the place back in the day.

Yep. The strip looks basically okay, but they would need to move out the lawn furniture, cows and trim some trees. It would be a very committing landing - a a one way strip straight into a hill.

Here's a sat photo
 
My lovely wife just reminded me not to dare ever post a photo of her snoozing like that (never mind that she was in that exact condition a couple of weeks ago in my- our- RV-7). But thanks for posting. Looking for interesting things to do with my (our) newly-out-of-phase1 airplane. That sounds like a seriously cool trip.
 
I spent my high school days down in that area. There is a 60 mile stretch called the Wild and Scenic Section that is only accessible via the river or hiking.
Right above where your wife is standing, or near a very similar spot on the river, there is a plaque showing the height of the water during one of the floods before they put the dams above stream. I think the water swelled in that gorge to over 60 ft if I recall, maybe more.
It is a very special area of Oregon. Even the jet boats are not allowed up that high, not could they make it up some of the class 5 rapids!
Fun stuff.
 
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