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Photographs taken at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge
http://www.fws.gov/tualatinriver/
19255 SW Pacific Highway (Highway 99W)
Sherwood, OR 97140

[slidepress gallery=’kfbckingsriver’]

The long hot summers here in California’s Central Valley prompt all residents to find a reprieve from the almost suffocating summer heat; while their are many options to keep cool some of the more local options often offer the fastest relief. Local parks don’t often bring with them the coolness of water so it is for that reason that the local pools, rivers, lakes and water parks become much more popular.

During the past weekend I stayed cool in the Kings River, a river local to my home, the cool 65-70 degree water melts away the heat of the day quicker than any cool glass of sweet ice tea, and leaves you much more refreshed. Saturday night, braving the dangers and hazards in the water, a group of friends and youth from Kingsburg Mennonite Brethren went for a float down the kings river. After dark, especially with no moon to speak of, the seemingly calm Kings River is especial dangerous, while you don’t have to contend with the heat of the day obsticles that could be easily seen in the sunlight disappear into the darkness. Starting at 9:00 we floated for the better part of two and a half hours between launch and landing points, chatting and enjoying the break from the summer heat.

The afternoon of the following day was spent at the river again at a Kingsburg First Baptist event, family’s came together to stay cool in the river and barbecue their dinners in a quasi potluck style dinner. There were boats on which to go for rides, an area good for those only wanting to get their feet wet and a couple of rope swings from which to splash into the cool Kings River water. For those like myself that showed up in the early evening the cool river was the only way to stay cool, but as the evening went on the river’s cool water and slight breeze kept us all refreshed.

Wither in a swimming pool, a lake or even a powerful river it is important that you be aware of the dangers and do whatever you can to mittigate those dangers. Please don’t do any activities around water alone and always make sure that people know where you are at, where you are going and when you expect to return.

This last weekend was spent with friends, enjoying each other and being a support for each other. They brought with them their Sea-Doo which we took out on the Kingsburg river for some fun. The Kingsburg river this time of year is nearly empty however we were able to find a place that would allow the Sea-Doo enough depth to really get some speed. We spent the afternoon hanging out relaxing and running the jet-ski up and down the river.

There was enough room to run the ski a good distance to let the engine really get going, top speed for the day 57 miles per hour. And plenty of room across the river to turn some donuts burying the front in of the ski under a wake of air filled water, with more power to spare. Each run was, for me, more adrenaline filled than the last.

My friend and I, both being photography enthusiast, had to have a camera along to capture the fun that we were having. First inclination was to turn the camera to take photographs as fast as it could, however that didn’t yeild the best photographs. For water sports taken in broad day light slowing the camera down has the potential to keep the photographs in focus while showing lost of action to the viewer, please enjoy looking through the photographs.

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