Rafting and Camping

For our last weekend in town, all of the interns and one of our bosses, Mike, decided to go whitewater rafting and camping. We rafted on the White Salmon river, which feeds into the northern side of the Columbia River near Hood River. For camping, we headed into the Mt. Hood National Forest to Wahtum Lake, a small alpine lake off the Pacific Crest Trail.



Because my camera is not waterproof, I do not have any photos of the rafting. Natalie did have a waterproof camera, so some photos will likely surface on facebook eventually. The trip was great. The water level is high, so the river was moving fast and the waves were big. Our guide was a former SCA Intern and self-proclaimed bird nerd, so he shared a lot of interesting information about the geology, flora, and fauna of the river canyon during the breaks between rapids. It was good fun, and a chance to see the area from a different angle.


Wahtum lake was gorgeous. The water was crystal clear. In the morning, before there was a great deal of glare off the lake, you could see the lake bottom thirty yards away. I don't have a license, so I didn't participate, but a few of the girls were having great luck fishing in the lake as well.

It was a fairly typical camping trip. We built a nice fire, roasted sausages, and drank whiskey. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was perfect, so I just laid my sleeping bag by the fire and fell asleep under the stars.