Next morning, got up bright and early, had a light b’fast, jumped on the bike and headed North along the 101. The route to Jerry’s Jet Boats is 1.4 miles along highway 101 and it’s easy travel what with the nice sidewalks and all. It’s right on the edge of town on the south shore of the Rogue River. The last bit is fairly steep so I’m sure I wore down a layer of my bike’s brake pads. Didn’t like the idea of coming back that way and having to push the bike all the way up that hill, so on my way back, I’ll look for an alternate route.
When I made my reservations, and after I got the discount, it came to $45 (in case you’re wondering). Regular price is $50. This is the 2nd to last jet boat tour, and only trip of the 3 trip lengths they offered this time of year, a 64 mile round trip on the river. They planned on shutting down the tour operation the day after tomorrow, but the mail boat travels up the river all year round. The other two tours, 80 miles and 104 miles, had already been shut down due to low water levels.
I arrived at Jerry’s right at 9 AM for the 9:30 trip, signed in, and soon we were loading aboard from the modern and well maintained dockside. The boats all looked in great shape as well. Aluminum hulls, padded bench seats, etc. The pilot would ask people as they boarded if they were with nearby people and most everyone was part of a group or couple. I was the only single and he directed me to the last bench seat in the boat so I had an entire seat to myself. I am not complaining. The way the boat is built, each row is a little higher than the row before so the last row, where I was sitting, was the highest and had the best view. BUT, it also got the most wind and spray. I was OK with that.
Walking down the ramp to board the boat gives a nice view of the Rogue and the 101 bridge. We’ll be traveling under that bridge soon.
Our boat captain there on the left giving us last minute safety instructions.
Spotted a neat old boat in the harbor.
If we head that way, we’d be on the ocean in about 5 minutes. We don’t though.
The captains traveling companion. Our mascot. Friendly.
It’s a flat bottomed boat so it doesn’t take much for the captain to spin her around to give us a look at the bridge.
The captain was telling us about a recent flood stage they’d had here and that the water reached all the way up that embankment to just about the bottom of that lighter band of soil at the top of the bank.
There’s an eagle and it’s nest in that tree…somewhere. Can’t see it now. I know it was there when I quickly moved to take the picture. I did see the eagle flying away from this tree to it’s nest and later flying back. The captain tells us it’s a fledgling that’s just been abandoned by it’s parents and it’s learning the ropes of staying alive but is staying close to the only home it’s ever known.
A nice couple of egrets.
Scared the hell out of these ducks as we came roaring by…the boat is loud and goes really fast.
The remnants of an old dredging operation. Pretty much all evidence of gold mining on the Rogue has been wiped out over the years.
There are 3 deer over there somewhere.
See the deer there? There were 3 of them. This is the mom just lazing in the sunshine after getting a drink. Her two babies high tailed it up the bank when they heard us come upriver. We throttled back a bit in order to approach here without spooking her. Alas, the babies were climbing the hill as soon as they heard us coming upstream.
There are many private residences along both sides of the river.
As we head east it gets more remote with fewer signs of humans but still, you can spot homes along the river partly hidden by trees. And fishermen alongside and on the river. Lots of those this time of year.
One of several RV parks along the Rogue.
That properties for sale if you’re interested.
As long as the boat was in the sunlight, my light jacket was enough. But there were times when we went up long stretches of the river that was mainly in shadow that the temperature plunged. That coupled with the speed of the boat creating a cold wind, made me grab the provided wool blanket to throw over my legs. It is October, so not exactly unexpected.
When we got to this placid area of the river we were tipped off that the boat would be spun around so I took this series of pictures. Normally, we had no warning. Suddenly we’d be spinning around. Fun, but hard to take a picture when you’re not ready and the camera’s off.
And about half way around…
Ahh, another hidden house.
There was an otter family over there I think…
And we arrive at our lunch break destination in Agness. There’s 3 large restaurants (I only spotted one though I’m sure the other two are nearby), a motel, RV park, grocery store, and bar here. I think it took us almost 2.5 hours to get here 32 miles upriver. Note we fooled around on the river quite often though. Stopping and talking to fishermen we passed, spinning the boat every once in a while, drifting by wildlife, slowing while the captain told us history stories, that sort of thing. And of course the river doesn’t flow perfectly straight. We were given 1 & 1/2 hours for lunch here at the 32 mile mark.
Up that hill are the facilities.
And I dropped in at the bar (part of the restaurant) for my lunch. They had a sign up that they’d be closing for the winter after the following weekend. Ahhh. Too bad. Nice little bar. With a TV for watching NFL games too. Ordered a salad for lunch. Came with made-on-site Ranch dressing. Wow, sooo soo good. Not sweet like the commercial brands. Also had a made fresh that morning cornbread square. Also excellent.
Out there is where the shuttle bus parked. The grocery store is over there too. Before I came into the bar, I’d spent some time wandering around checking out the RV park and the motel (some rooms had doors open). Nice facilities. Also checked out the stock and prices at the grocery store. Yikes. But, they had some staples available so you wouldn’t have to run to town all the time if you stayed here.
The weather was great so everyone else from the jet boat had gone to eat lunch out on the big deck. I was trying to keep my eye on them so I’d know when to go down to the dock.
So, I’m in the bar eating, kibitzing with the attractive bartender, and I ask her if I can tell when the jet boat is leaving by watching the shuttle bus? When it leaves I should leave? She says, “Yes”. OK, I keep my eye on it. (I haven’t worn a watch in 40 years and there was no clock in the bar). Eventually, I notice that all the people from the boat who were outside on the deck eating lunch were very quiet now and I couldn’t really see their heads through the windows anymore. So I paid, walked out onto the deck, and they were gone, no one left on the deck except two people!
I run over to the railing and see the boat just leaving the dock. Crap! I missed the boat! I’m starting to panic, then get a grip on myself and ask the two people still on the deck if they know when the next boat is coming along. Fifteen minutes they say. Oh, well, then, no problem. In the below picture from the deck, you can see the dock off in the distance…and no boat.
Took this picture just as my ride disappeared down river on the left side.
While waiting on the dock for the backup boat here in Agness, I debated driving back up here and staying a few days in my RV. The RV park was nice. Had the restaurant and bar right nearby, the store, and a nice motel if I wanted to get out of the RV for a day or two. All the normal amenities at the RV park too. Wifi, laundry, showers, etc. And boy was it serene around here. Right next to the river. Great place to spend a few days.
And then the other jet boat showed up so I explained to the captain, he had me jump aboard, and off we went downstream. The other boat captain knew I’d missed the boat and hung my jacket on the railing on the dock, I spotted it when I came down. Helpful. I don’t know where this backup boat came from. It’s not on their schedule. They list one departure per day this time of year. But, I’m not complaining that there was a mystery boat about 2/3 full of passengers I was able to catch heading downstream 15 minutes after missing my boat. Yeah, it was the same company too. Anyway, I clammered aboard on a new boat with a different captain and different dog. And down the river we headed.
You can see the river is not very deep in places. The jet boats have marked routes by or over shallow areas. The jets and the shallow draft of the boats, along with the captains expertize, means we never scraped the bottom. But you could see why they’d need to shut down the boat rides this time of year. Simply not enough water after a summer’s dryness.
You can see the recent high water marks on the rocks here.
It was here that I realized, DOH!, I could have just rented a room up in Agness, spent the night, and taken the mail boat back downstream the next day. Crap. Missed an opportunity to enjoy the serenity of the upper Rogue River area in comfort. Shoot.
Oh, well, too late now. Maybe some other time. Instead, we head downstream and again, the captain stops now and again for photo opportunities, to kibitz with anglers, and to spin the boat occasionally. Splashing us riders with water.
Spotted a family of racoons here. Can’t find them in the picture. They were up on the hill a bit.
Oh, there’s one of the babies. Cute little buggers. 
See one of them there looking right at us? Then the other one nearby? And the tail of the 3rd?
There we go. All three in a halfway decent picture.
And around 3:30 we are back near Gold Beach.
This trip took me up to Agness. I can’t wait for next season. Next spring or fall I think I’ll do the really long trip and spend the night. Paradise Bar would be my destination.
Went out on the deck of the office and took a telephoto of that boat I showed earlier. That would be fun to be on board for a short trip out at sea.
Rode my bike back to the RV park by a different route so I didn’t have to contend with that steep hill. Beautiful weather all day.
Next day, the weather turned. We had ground effect fog off the ocean for a couple days. And thick enough mist to dampen everything outside.
Walked over to the beach, it’s remote enough and the fog was thick enough that it was like there wasn’t another soul on earth. Peaceful.
Oh, wait. Some kind of message left by some intelligence. Or perhaps the ocean randomly washed that driftwood into that shape. Hmmm.
Oh, definitely some huuman’s around. Well, they’re not here today to interrupt my solitude.
There are some neat looking islands just off the coast.
After that respite, I spend the next couple days just lounging around and watching streaming video on the surprisingly fast WiFi here at the park. Can’t beat it. Once in awhile we’d have a little rain, nothing much though.
Then one day, rode my bike up to the store for some things and spot a flyer for a handyman. He sounded like a guy I could have get up on the roof for me so I gave him a call. Next morning he arrived bright and early at 10 AM just after the sun came out. Talked to him a while, and turns out he’s a native American who screwed up and tried to escape the cops while drunk driving. Had some prison time down in California but when they released him on parole, he had to report clear up here in Oregon to the system up here. And he doesn’t have a driver’s license either.
So he showed up at my RV riding a borrowed bike that looked a little worse for wear. Seems like a nice guy, I think we’ll work together fine. I have him climb up on the roof and reseal some of the sealing tape, add some more, clean up a spot or two. I checked, and he’d done a damn fine job. OK, so I find out he’d has some electrical skills too and have him help me get the windshield washer spray system working again. Turned out that the ground wire going to the pump was open circuit somewhere. We, or rather he, added a new 12″ length of wire as a substitute ground. Boy, not having a windshield washer had bugged me for over a year. It was great to have it working again. It was difficult for one person to try to work on it and take voltage measurements so that’s why I hadn’t done anything with it. Paid Keith $40 for two hours work and was happy for his help. Tried to call him again for a brake job a couple days later but he didn’t call back before I left town.
And that’s about all from Gold Beach. It’s a nice little town. Plenty of places to stay, a few things to do, like the Jet Boat trips in season. Lot’s of restaurants I never tried. Even has a brewery. One reasonably priced (for a small town) and stocked grocery store, McKay’s. Avoid Ray’s if you go though. Many motels and a couple hotels. All with ocean views. Nice place to visit if you want to unwind.
See you all next time! Thanks for visiting!