Kokopelli River Guides just got back from a 4 day Lower Klamath Wine and Wellness rafting and kayaking trip. The participants were returning guests from a 2007 Lower Klamath trip, but this year they decided that they wanted to incorporate some relaxation after a hard day of paddling. Just about a couple of weeks before the scheduled launch date fires broke out in Northern California along the Klamath River in the Dillon Creek drainage. We were a little worried that this might cancel our scheduled trip that was supposed to launch June 29th. But with a little luck and determination we launched our trip as scheduled.
As we began our drive down the Lower Klamath River road the smoke from the fires began to build. What was this going to be like? None of us on the trip had ever dealt with anything like this before. There were 8 participants on the trip with 3 rafts and 5 inflatable kayaks. Laura was our massage and yoga guru and at the end of a long day of paddling she began her magic and massaged everyone in the group. The issue with the fires was quickly forgotten. The morning was spent practicing yoga and reminiscing about the previous day's adventure. They all wondered what that day had in store for them. The evening was spent enjoying some wine, gourmet cheese, and good company.
We enjoyed some excellent sandy campsites at Oak Flat and Independence. The beaches were sandy enough that we all forgot about our shoes and walked in the sand barefoot. Most of us slept out of our tents and awoke in the middle of the night excited to see a sky full of stars! The fires did not take the night sky away from us.
Despite the fires it was an excellent trip with excellent company. We enjoyed delicious food, gourmet cheeses and chocolate, had an incredible time running the rapids, and had a lot of fun with glow sticks. We will be looking forward to next year and doing it all again.