White Water Rafting!

A weekend after winning the NWC conference tournament I thought it might be fun to have a quality "outdoor" day. So on Sunday Coach John and I took members of the men's and women's team on a white water adventure down the Grande Ronde River.

Grant Ritchie (Whitman class of 2003) owner of Minam Raft Rentals generously provided rafts for the float. Those interested in a day or weekend of floating should check out Minam raft rentals -- they are located right at the confluence of the Minam and Wallowa rivers. Just show up to their shop, jump in the rafts and you off on your adventure. Plus they are only located 90 minutes from Walla Walla.

Since we were limited on time we did the entire 40 mile section of water from the confluence of the Minam/Wallowa Rivers to Troy, OR (Grande Ronde River) in a single day. Most people take two - three days to do this float.

The trip was absolutely incredible. The Grande Ronde is a wild and scenic river and on the trip we saw eagles (Golden and Bald), a young bear, mountain sheep, deer, ducks and geese. Everyone took turns rowing and by the end of the trip all became competent at steering the rafts. Also as if getting wet from the rapids wasn't enough some of the guys decided it might be fun to go swimming in the frigid waters. Well, truthfully they didn't really decide to go swimming but were "helped" out of the boats.

Here are some photos from the trip Flick stream of rafting trip

Again big thanks to Grant and Lottie Ritchie of Minam Raft Rentals for making Sunday such a special day!