-Water Rat in Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
“What’s our river this summer,” Gabe asks. When my twin boys were seven we took our first family overnight float, a four-day journey down the class II Grand Ronde River in Oregon. What we remember is “Butterfly Camp,” where hundreds of monarchs visited us on the beach, and the way the boys and their step dad, John, lost themselves in the art of creating fire from a spindle and bow they made from a branch and some driftwood. In the end all that emerged was some smoke and a lot of shavings and we were glad we had remembered to bring a lighter so we could grill the steaks. That night we set up the tent, but slept outside, four across on a giant tarp, drifting off before nightfall. The next morning each of us commented on how we awoke at some point in the middle of the night to see the brilliant night sky.
My sons are twelve now and we’ve taken at least one, sometimes two river trips each summer. In recent years we’ve sometimes gone with an outfitter on what my sons’ call the “luxury line.” They are impressed with dessert every night and the fact that they don’t have to do the dishes. Usually they find themselves helping out anyway. That’s where the guides are and they are by far the most fun kids on the trip.
On rivers my sons learn to row a raft and paddle their own inflatable kayaks. They learn to read water: to know where the safe eddies are, and how to find the tongue of a rapid. They learn to notice hawks in the sky and trout in the current. They learn to entertain themselves on the flat stretches, by attempting kayak acrobatics or starting a water fight. We’ve endured many acts of piracy with everyone including the captain ending up overboard, and there are always plenty of stories to tell at camp. I have never heard Gabe and Dylan laugh harder than when we are on a river.
We go on other vacations, car camping, resorts, once the boys even talked me into an amusement park. But our river trips hold a special place in our summers. Maybe it is that odd relationship between the way time slows down but the current keeps moving. Each night there is a room with a new view and new beach to explore in search of rocks and swimming holes and wild denizens. Each day there is a new stretch of river with rapids or hot springs or pictographs along the way. There is no word for boredom in river speak, or if there is, in five years of river travel I have yet to hear it.
After one trip a woman, mother of three, asked a guide what he wanted people to get from the river trip. “It’s a vacation, but it’s more too,” he answered, “A river experience is a chance to tune into a place, and to your own wild roots.” I’d add to that list, and to each other.
© 2007 Laura Stavoe
Laura Stavoe writes essays for many national magazines including FamilyFun, Prevention, Paddler and Ladies Home Journal. She is currently writing a memoir about motherhood, relationships and the outdoors. You can read more of Laura’s work on her website www.laurastavoe.com.
What makes these trips different from ECHO’s regular raft trips? Instead of riding as passengers or paddlers in a big raft, each guest will paddle their own kayak for the entire stretch of the river. With help from experienced professional guides, guests will rig their own drybags onto their kayaks. Once boats are rigged and the “expedition” is ready to go, guests will experience whitewater in the most exciting way possible: up close and personal. With just a paddle, and directions from the fearless leaders, each person in a duckie! will paddle through boulder slaloms, plunge into frothy holes, and glide over glassy waves to their heart’s content. Maneuverable, stable, and incredibly fun, duckies! allow adventurers to challenge the rapids on their own for a more personalized whitewater experience than rafting. Because each person has their own kayak, Duckie! trips travel light and fast, allowing more opportunities enjoy the marvels of these premier river canyons. There will be ample time to hike in the side canyons, soak in natural hot springs, take photos of wildlife, and examine Native American pictographs and other archeological sites on the Rogue and Middle Fork canyons.
Ever dream of fliying into a beautiful remote airstrip? Do you love fishing crystal clear water? Do you want to be a kid again?
Sometimes parents get nervous when they think about taking kids whitewater rafting for the first time. An article was written by Cindy Hirschfeld in the 
On a 
