Recent Washington & Oregon Whitewater River Rafting News

This Recent News page is a place where people can find out about upcoming promotions or discounts for river trips, or other things happening at All Star Rafting or the boating community that we think are news worthy. This page is a work in progress, so we will constantly be adding updates and more information as the season goes on.  We hope you will keep checking back in as we post more items of interest.  Oh- and if you have any items that you think we should post on here, please let us know!

 (Thursday, May 14th, 2009)

This is probably the most beautiful time of the year to visit the Lower Deschutes! The spring rains have greened up the canyon walls and surrounding area and this weekend we are expecting weather in the mid to upper 80 degrees. The Balsamroot and Lupine are in full bloom, just covering the hillsides with acres and acres of  bright yellow and blue. The Canada Geese and Common Mergansers all have their little hatchlings in tow- so cute!  We've seen quite a few different kinds of birds around here too recently- Cedar Waxwings, Kingbirds and the Bullock's Oriole. This is the last weekend before the "peak season" starts, so prices for rafting are still the best of the year, the boater passes are still only $2 on Saturday and Sunday, and there aren't big crowds of people.  

The Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival is going on this weekend, May 16th & 17th.  Information can be found on their website, www.upperclackamasfestival.org. 

(Friday, March 13th, 2009)

Amy and Silas joined the Freshwater Trust today -formerly known as Oregon Trout- to plant trees along the banks of the Lower Deschutes.  It was really fun and we will definitely do it again. The Trust provides the trees- alders and willows- shovels and planting instruction. Their goal is to plant 100,000 trees! We were lucky because the weather was phenomenal and it was a great group of people to spend a day with. Luckily there are more opportunities this summer to participate, if anyone is interested. The organizer is Richard Walsh. You can call him at 503-855-3324 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , for more information. Honestly- spending a day planting trees and hanging out along the Deschutes river is a pretty good way to enjoy life.

(Wednesday, March 4, 2009)

We ran our first trip of the season last week on the Deschutes!  Amazingly enough it ended up being a gorgeous day and everyone had a great time.  And maybe because there have been so few people on the river, we saw lots of wildlife- otters, mink, Canada Geese, Red-wing Blackbirds and Common Mergansers. Anyway- it was a fun day with really fun people. 

 Some info on the dreaded New Zealand Mud Snail (NZMS). At a recent meeting with the Columbia River Forest Service, they stressed the importance of trying to stop the spread of this nastly little invasive species.  It has been found in rivers in this area, like the Deschutes near the mouth and the Snake River, but so far it is NOT in the White Salmon.  They think it is being spread mostly by anglers, because these tiny little snails attach themselves to their gear and can live on a damp surface for like 50 days.  What can we do?  Make sure your gear is cleaned after each trip, and check every little nook and cranny.  We don't want this to spread any more- they reproduce like crazy and affect our native fish populations.  Wikipedia has a good article on the NZMS if you want more info, or call the Forest Service. 

Ok- that's all we got for today.  bye.

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