Epic RVing with the Gradys - Day 17 - Jetboat Cruisin

We had a reservation for a tour today and had to be there by 9:30. It was south back to Klamath, CA, so we had to negotiate a couple of road closures and the windy roads, so we left pretty early, around 8:15. After filling up the Jeep with fuel (gah, California gas prices!!!) and getting some much needed caffeinne, we headed back south along much the same route we had traveled the day prior. The drive was nearly the same in all ways, just a bit shorter as we stopped at Klamath Jetboat Tours for our trip.

The Jetboat was just that, a boat that is meant to travel in somewhat shallow waters. The captain, Captain Chris, was careful to evenly distribute the weight throughout the boat because the maneuvers he does are somewhat precise. I didn’t think much of it, but I would later really understand why he had to do that - navigating this river must be difficult!!!

We started up the Klamath River, the second largest river in California, in search of wildlife and nice views. We were treated very early on to a curious coyote and a California Black Bear! We also learned various things about the river itself and its history with the native people from the area. It was quite beautiful! Also along the way, Captain Chris showed off his driving skills by doing several donuts and maneuvers to get the passengers wet! Honestly, this guy really must know the river and this boat well. There were several occasions where I was holding on for my life, knowing that he was going to hit an oncoming rock or tree. He had to put the boat into a skid on many occasions because it was too shallow for any other maneuver. He did things on that river that just shouldn’t be possible in a boat!!!

The tour was lots of fun - but mostly for me, I think. Besides the bear and coyote, we saw several eagles, some blue herrons, and lots of other birds. One area used to be known as the Blue Creek Lodge which apparently had some notoriety. Several presidents spent time there as well as some famous artists. Sadly, it didn’t survive the floods.

We got off the jetboat at noon and headed into the metropolis of Klamath for lunch at the Log Cabin Diner, which wasn’t in a log cabin, but whatever. The food was decent. After that we headed back north to Crescent Beach to do the hike that we didn’t get to do the day prior. It was a pretty easy hike - only a little over a mile round trip, but it did have some incline to it. While there, the kids learned to not trust the ocean by playing in the waves. Both of their shoes are soaking wet after losing a race with the waves, and they won’t dry until we get inland where they will probably dry instantly… It’s damp and wet here all the time!!!

We finished the day out at the Crecent City Lighthouse, which we sadly could not tour because the path is only accessible at low tide. We had a rare instance of poor timing by coming at exactly high tide time, around 2:45 today! Oh well, we got some pictures from afar.

We finished the day at camp for some down time. Jenny and I did a little laundry, we fixed dinner (leftovers), and most everybody took a shower. Now we’re burning through two stacks of wood which should be complete by around 9:00 after which we will go to bed for our last time on this trip in California. We intend to pull up stakes tomorrow and head inland and towards Denver. It will be a LONG drive home - 23 hours if you do it by car, which translates to somewhere near 30 hours in Harvee. With any luck I will blog it along the way, though I expect it to be sparse…