Rogue River Thrill Seeker - Full Day

The NEW Rogue River Thrill Seeker is the best way to experience the incredible variety of options on our beautiful River.  In the morning paddle yourself in an inflatable kayak through the pristine pools in the bottom of Hellgate Canyon.  Paddle next to turtles and float under the osprey as they soar over the river fishing. Take on some adventure and paddle yourself through the class II rapids of the Rogue River in your own inflatable kayak!  Our guides will teach you the skills and show you the lines, but paddling through will be all you, and you can certainly do it!  Our custom designed kayaks and knowledgable guides will help make sure you have the tools you need to become an inflatable kayaker.

Mid-day you will retreat from the river back to our place where you will enjoy lunch on our patio perhaps between games of ladder golf.  After you have had your fill we load in the van for a short drive to the put-in for the Nugget Falls section of the Rogue River. This section of the river has much bigger whitewater so we load into a paddle raft where you paddle as part of a team through the frothing torrents.  The afternoon section builds in difficulty, culminating in the famous Tilomikh falls, a combination of two drops plummeting over 10 feet in total.

The Rogue River thrill seeker is the trip for the group who can’t decide on the experience they want so they choose to do it all.  Sign up today and come out to experience the best parts of all of our single day trips on the Rogue River, sign up for the Rogue River Thrill Seeker!

Meeting Location

Meeting Location:

Our store is located at:

210 Merlin Rd.
Merlin, OR. 97532

This trip combines the AM section of our Rogue River Hellgate Tour with our half-day Rogue River Nugget Falls trip.  So for those who cannot decide which trip they wanted, no problem because you can now do them both!  Between the trips we will serve you lunch at our shop.

Times: This trip meets at 8:30am and concludes around 5:30pm

Rogue River Hellgate Tour – Inflatable kayaking portion.

Meet in our shop in Merlin just a little before 8AM. We are located at 210 Merlin Rd, Merlin Oregon. Exit Interstate 5 at exit 61 and drive 3.2 miles west. We are on the right hand side of the road. At our store you will meet your guides and get fitted for PFD’s before having the chance to buy any last minute items like sunscreen or straps for your sunglasses. When everyone has everything the group will load into the vans for the short 10 minute ride to the famous Rogue River.

When we arrive at the put-in you can take a few minutes to get your sunscreen loaded on while the guides get all of the boats ready to go. When the boats are ready the head guide will do a quick but thorough orientation on the inflatable kayaks and the skills you will need to paddle the river. When everyone is geared up it’s time to load in and start rafting the Rogue River. The adventure starts right away with the swift water leading into Hellgate Canyon, a scenic wonderland with forbidding cliffs rising from the water on both shores.

At the conclusion of the canyon is the groups first class II, Dunn Riffle, which is followed quickly by another fun class II rooster tail. After some splashing it will feel good to kick back and dry off in between the many riffles during the float towards upper and Lower Galice, two more thrilling class II rapids, back to back. After lower Galice rapid we meet the van for a shuttle back to the Torpedo Bar for lunch.

Lunch is served on the patio at the Torpedo Bar.  Enjoy street tacos along with a variety of snacks while perhaps getting in a game of ladder golf with your fellow travelers.

Nugget Falls – the afternoon portion of the trip.

When everyone has their sunscreen and is geared up for the afternoon the group will load into the paddle rafts and head downstream. A great feature to this run is that it builds in difficulty so the group starts off with several class I and II rapids to practice their paddling skills before getting to the first class III rapids. As the group floats through this initial section you can expect to see great wildlife including bald eagles, osprey, and deer.

After about an hour the rafts arrive at lineman’s and the raft surfing begins. After splashing through the rapid we will pull into the eddy next to this famous Rogue River kayaking spot. If there are any kayakers we will hop in line and watch them try to surf and do some tricks while we wait for our chance to get onto the wave and hang ten. Surfing a raft is like it sounds, we will aim upstream and paddle the raft out into the current and try to catch the surfing wave. If we do it right the people in the front will get very wet and will be able to sit on the wave in the middle of the rapid without paddling. It is a very unique and fun feeling.

When the group is thoroughly wet and ready to hit some big waves we will float down stream to our first class IV rapids, Nugget Falls. At Nugget Falls the river squeezes the river into a narrow chute where the raft is forced to navigate the “monkeys fist” and two LARGE holes as the river cascades over a large ledge. Hold on tight this is always an adventure. Assuming the group is all still in the boat and the boat is bottom down we sometimes pull over for photos. This is a great spot for family pictures in front of your first class IV waterfall.

When everyone is ready it’s back to the boat where we soak in some sunshine as we float the final flat above our second class IV, Powerhouse (Tilomikh) falls. At Tilomikh Falls the team will navigate some rocks and drop over a bouncy ledge into the top pool before making a turn and dropping over the bottom 8-10 foot pour-over into the bottom pool. After the falls you're sure to have a smile on your face as we float to the boat ramp, vans, and the end of your Rogue River rafting trip.

Where to Meet Orange Torpedo Trips

We meet at our store at:
210 Merlin Rd.
Merlin, OR.
97532

Accommodations

• Riverside Inn (recommended)
  
• Redwood Motel Grants Pass Oregon  888-535-8824
• Magnolia Inn  541-899-0255 (Great B&B in Historic Jacksonville)
• Flery Manor Grants Pass Oregon  541-476-3591 (Award Winning)
• Holiday Inn Express Grants Pass Oregon  541-471-6144
• Shiloh Inn Grants Pass Oregon  541-479-8391

Camping

Camping options exist all over. The closest to this specific trip is Valley of the Rogue State Park

Flying In

The closest commercial airport is in Medford, Oregon (airport code MFR)

Typical Weather

Southern Oregon is known for our wonderful summertime weather.

Averages are:

• May · High (F) 73 Low (F) 46 - Avg. rainfall 1.31 in
• June · High (F) 82 Low (F) 52 - Avg. rainfall 0.62 in
• July · High (F) 91 Low (F) 57 - Avg. rainfall 0.28 in
• August · High (F) 91 Low (F) 57 - Avg. rainfall 0.4 in
• September · High (F) 84 Low (F) 50 - Avg. rainfall 0.57 in

You don’t need much for these day trips, but these are the things you certainly DO want.

What to pack

• Swimwear (Non-Cotton)
• Water Shoes or sports sandals (Flip Flops are not ideal)
• Water bottle (1-liter minimum and attachable to boat.)
• Waterproof sunscreen
• Sunglasses with chums/croakies