“I Know What’s Across The Bridge”

Bend, Oregon

July 1, 2021

Kid at Chipotle yesterday told me the one thing I had to do in Bend was tube the river.

I‘m not fond of water sports (exclusive of fishing near land) but having seen the tubers yesterday, I figure what the heck.

$21 gets you parking, the tube and a ride to and from the input snd exit, respectively. I spent two hours on the river. Not a bad investment.

The photos give you some perspective on the popularity of this experience. If you live here you have your own tube, float, board or kayak. I’d say 50 percent of the folks had their own gear. At the place where you pay, they told me they put more than 1,000 people per day on the water the past few days. Today it’s only in the mid 90s so demand is down.

The river is clearly a popular place for Bend moms and their little ones and Brnd teenagers — the boys jumping off the bridges to impress the girls who fein not watching.

It was a very Zen crowd. Everyone was relaxed, folks gave pushes when you got stuck. For the most part folks obeyed the no beer or weed on the river.

I am glad I crossed the bridge!

i took these first photos as I was sizing things up.

This is where the cool kids were.

I made up my mind — I’m doing this!

The only part of me that didn’t get soaked going through the rapids (I think there were six of them) was my head. I had inconveniently forgotten to stuff my shirt in a Ziplock bag. 😮. I went through feet first like you are supposed to — and I still nearly was jettisoned from the tube.

There are some “sweet cribs” on the river.

I can’t seem to find the photos of dogs on paddle boards. I must have seen 10 just sitting on the board as it’s owner paddled away.

I would definitely do this again. The experienced tubers used flip flops to aid their paddling. I was surprised by how tired I was at the end — there is a bit of paddling to keep yourself in the best areas of flow.