Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. Enjoy one another, offer gifts of kindness and good cheer, share a smile, and find contentment in the little things life brings your way. Happy Christmas Day! Love, The O'Brien Family

Snow Along the Rogue River

Winter has arrived in the Rogue Valley! The Evergreens are dressed in white, the river has a crisp, crackling flow, and the air is clean and bright. Right now it is 17 degrees at O'Brien's Headquarters.

We are enjoying the beauty of the season. Grab a warm cup of coffee, cocoa or tea and enjoy the view!

Rogue River Thanksgiving

Life on the Rogue is a special way to live. We are very thankful that we get to live in God's country along the banks of the Rogue River, nestled in the rich fertile valley of the Siskiyou-Klamath Mountain Range.


Our Thanksgiving was cooked cast iron style over a campfire at one of our favorite campsites. We forgot about the removal of the tables by the parks department during the winter time, but Tim improvised and built a table out of firewood! We cooked fog bank mashed potatoes, s'more sweet potatoes, gravel bar peas and onions, and fire roasted herbed turkey complete with corn bread stuffing. We thought the names would entice you to try a cook out of your own or better yet, with us! The camp coffee kept us warm as we topped off dinner with pumpkin pie.

We enjoyed the chatter of the belted king fisher, the warmth of the fire, the freedom to enjoy the great outdoors and the company of one another. Here's to living the good life one day at a time and to sharing the gratitude of another beautiful season on the Rogue River.
Happy Thanksgiving!



Rogue River Rafting Dinner Trips

Rainshowers and Starshowers

November in the Rogue Valley can be a time of volatile weather patterns. We have had a very mild fall with warm days and cool nights that led into a surprise cloaking of heavy fog. The fog lasted for 5 days,and temperatures remained steady between 41 and 45 degrees day and night. Then it rained. As the warmer weather moved into the valley, the fog lifted and the cloaking fog lifted to reveal the surrounding mountains. As the evergreen peaks were revealed, the sun peaked through, pale blue sky appeared and the views became spectacular.

Between rainshowers at night, the clouds parted and the brilliant autumn stars danced vividly in the night sky. The Milky Way offered an extra background brilliance as the starshowers fell in front. Autumn evenings of stargazing and puffy, cloudy days make another great season in the Rogue River Valley.

Oregon Rafting

Ride into the Wild Rogue

While taking a photo trip along the river, we watched three horseback riders enter the water from the river right. There are no roads going in or out and access is miles away on a rough, little used, mostly forgotten logging and mining road. There used to be an old homestead where the horses and their riders entered the river corridor. There are remnants of canning and food preservation artifacts, other household items and some mining debris. Everything else has been washed away over the years from high water and floods. The site is now used by rafters and fishermen for picnicking and camping.

The riders were obviously enjoying the gorgeous day, full of autumn colors and took their horses into the water at the rocky bank on the bend of the river. They rested for a moment and then turned back into the wilderness for their return journey. Watching them from a distance above was like a trip back in time and into the wild west!

Oregon River Rafting
Rogue River Rafting Day Trips

Fall Colors On The Rogue River

Summer vacations are over, kids are back to school and the Rogue River is like a ghost town except for a few fishing boats. It is now fall. The river is quiet and bursting with autumn colors. It is a beautiful time of the year to visit the river and that is what Kari and I did. We drove along the river and stopped at various places to take pictures. Hopefully we captured the essence of the season on this magnificent river.

Oregon River Rafting
Rogue River Rafting Day Trips

Autumn on the Rogue

It is nearly the end of October and the river has been dressed in dazzling colors of ruby-red, golden-amber-yellow, and rusty-ginger-orange. The low light of the sunshine simply magnifies the beauty along the river with the light creating dazzling effects on the leaves.


We packed up dinner and ate along the banks of the Rogue at one of our favorite camp sites with friends Jeff and Tammi. The slow roasted cast iron chicken, baked beans and harvest apple salad made a hearty meal with special people. After dinner, we moved to the camp fire and enjoyed the soul soothing sounds of the river lapping the bank, looking up in awe at the unimaginable number of stars and enjoying the warm company of good friends.

Oregon River Rafting

Miami Beach Camping

All summer long we enjoy spending time rafting and camping with people from all over the world. Now that the season is over, Kari and I got to spend a little R&R together. We packed up the boat with our camping gear and put in at Robertson Bridge. We floated into Hellgate Canyon and on the left is a beautiful sandy beach. The locals call it 'Miami Beach'. We had a great dinner made by Kari. Then there was a surprise visit from some former students who were passing by in their drift boat. We talked and shared some old memories. They left and Kari and I enjoyed the evening together. The next day we had a great riverside breakfast, packed up the rocket boat and floated to Grave Creek where Karyn and Alyssa picked us up. A perfect ending to a fantastic season.

Rogue River Rafting Trips