The transition from dry central Oregon to the coastal rainforests is pretty abrupt:

You climb over a mountain, and BAM! everything is covered in moss! I lucked out again, and got one of the first-come, first-served sites at McKenzie Bridge Campground, in the Willamette National Forest. The campground is primitive, but lovely—right on the McKenzie River.

Russ met me there, and that night at dinner, we met the owner of one of the many rafting companies in the area. We’d enjoyed our first rafting trip in Colorado so much that we signed up on the spot for a three-hour rafting trip down the McKenzie the next day.

No pictures, because my iphone… But we had a blast! Our guide came up with lots of nifty maneuvers to make the rapids more fun, and I was introduced to a new river ’tradition’—making lots of noise every time you go under a bridge. He also pointed out some of the quirky things people along the river do—like the guy who ties cold beers to a rope suspended over the river for rafters and kayakers to snag as they go by. Shoutout to Oregon Whitewater Adventures and our guide ’Tater’ for a great time!

Leaving McKenzie, we were reminded again of how devastating western wildfires can be. In 2020, the Holiday Farm fire, started when high winds downed power lines, burned over 173,000 acres and destroyed the town of Blue Lake.