Rogue River Clean Up 2009

In it's 19th year now, the Rogue River Clean Up has both a preceding reputation and a calculated approach to its mission; 27 volunteers leap frogging their way down the Wild and Scenic Portion of the river untangling fishing line from branches, freeing beer cans from between boulders, and digging leech infested tires from the river bank.
It is my first time going on an a multi-day rafting trip and I'm firs struck by the amount of stuff being packed. My camping experiences have always been measured by cutting weight and the restrictions of backpacks. Not so when your seat in the raft is the cooler filled with ice and catered lasagna and a spider web of cam straps is the only real restriction to what is lashed down in the rear of the raft.
I was reassured that not all raft trips are quite as plush as this one, what with donated catering and a crew of people who are passionate enough about the remaining wild areas to volunteer to clean up trash along the way. Though as long time paddler Ed Fredette points out every trip should be a clean up trip.
This trip though, this official clean up trip is partnered with the BLM so that along the way we deposit the trash we collect for them to later carry out and allowing us to pick up more trash the next day and the day after that.
Four days to be exact. One of which was perfectly sunny and downright warm. The other three were only slightly less than ideal, though by no means bad. Occasional rain kept most of us in paddle tops if not wetsuits as well. Perhaps the karma we were receiving for our role played into the luck we had when it came to set up our campsites, because it neither rained when we were putting up our tents nor when we were taking them down. We were also allowed the luxury of nightly fires despite damp firewood, which always makes an evening all the nicer.
Spending four days in such a new environment made taking photographs a fun project as everything was new and deciding how to frame rafts, rapids, steep valley walls. It made me realize being familiar with the sport or activity makes taking photos of it all the easier. To see my pictures from the trip check out: http://picasaweb.google.com/fredachi