Whitewater rafting

Rogue River, Oregon

PLENTY OF GREAT whitewater routes run through wilds across the continent, but the Rogue River varies the sit-and-splash formula with an unusual variety of experiences beyond rapid-running. Sure, you can hit the frothy highlights on a half-day trip through Hellgate Canyon, filming location for River Wild and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But better is to go whole enchilada on a 40-mile trip through the section of the Rogue that’s earned Wild and Scenic designation with over 20 class II-IV rapids—a threeto four-day trip that pauses for swimming holes, hikes to waterfalls, check-ins on resident black bears and camping beneath black velvet skies that burst with stars. Trout are intensely colored (many are wild, not stockers) and anglers can cast for Chinook salmon and steelhead—the Rogue is one of the few remaining rivers with a summer steelhead run. With overnight lodges along the journey, rafters averse to roughing it can enjoy beds and flushing toilets. Run It: Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures and Lodge runs multiday raft trips. The lodge has cabins across a variety of budgets.

LONG RUN Flowing from the Cascade Range to the Pacific, the Rogue is one of the original rivers named in the Wild and Scenic River Act of 1968.