A Smoky Start to September

By Scott Harvey

Greetings fellow club members,

As the month of September rolls in and with August in our rearview mirror, we are still very much in the middle of fire season. Especially with the Rum Creek fire burning along the Rogue River and threatening the communities of Galice and Merlin. Air quality is hitting unhealthy ranges, particularly in the Grants Pass area.    

Sections of the Lower Rogue River are closed, so take extra caution and check your launch points before departing on any river trips you have planned. This will also mean that open sections of the Rogue will be impacted by greater boating traffic. Please be cautious and patient if launch times are longer.   

You can view updates on fire activity and river closures on the Rum Creek Fire Incident page on InciWeb, as well as on the Rum Creek Fire Facebook page.  

The September OWA club meeting will kickoff at Willamette Park in West Linn on Wednesday, the 14th. The club will provide pizza and refreshments for the social gathering. There will also be a boating gear swap meet at this outdoor September meeting for those members who would like to bring their personal boating and camping gear that they are no longer utilizing and would like to either sell, barter, trade or giveaway to other interested club members. Further information can be found on the Upcoming Events section of the OWA webpage.  

Also the Wilderness First Aid training is already up and running with the two day class being locked in for October 1st and 2nd at McIver State Park near Estacada. We reserved the Kingfisher Group Camp, located towards the western section of McIver Park for the WFA training. We have this group camp reserved for 4 day's and 3 nights and this will also be the location of our training. You can show up as early as 4 pm on Friday afternoon to camp overnight and there's also camping available for both Saturday and Sunday nights as well. The group camp is reserved until 1pm on Monday, Oct 3rd. Additional information can also be found on the OWA webpage under Upcoming Events. If you plan to camp, please inform Matt Saucy (Safety Director) of your intended days that you would like to camp.  

Hope to see Y'all either on the river, a club meeting or at a training session soon. 

 

Cheers and Safe Boating,

Scott Harvey