Loving the river: Floating the Deschutes in Bend continues to grow in popularity
'It's beautiful, it's really relaxing and it's a nice activity to do with your friends or family'
BEND, Ore (KTVZ)-- Floating the Deschutes River in Bend has been a popular summer activity for locals and tourists, but the park-and-float location on Bradbury Way and the Ride the River shuttle service will end Monday, Labor Day. If the weather is good, rentals will continue at Riverbend Park for the next couple weekends in September.
One Bend resident says it's one of her favorite pastime activities.
"I floated the river probably like 50 times throughout my whole life. I float the river a lot every summer," Sela Smith said Thursday. "It's beautiful, it's really relaxing and it's a nice activity to do with your friends or family. If people come in from out of town, you can always take them."
As expected, warmer temperatures brought more people out to the water, but the numbers actually doubled in June of this year compared to last year. In part to Covid, only 39,000 people floated the river in June of 2020, while 76,000 people used it this year. July showed 20% growth, compared to July of last year, increasing from 93,000 to 113,00 river users.
Luke Habig is a newcomer to Bend and he said he and his girlfriend enjoy going to surf and float in the river.
"My favorite thing about floating or kayaking is just being in a nice, cool river on a hot day, usually during the summer. I'm new to Bend, but yeah -- seems to be quite a few people, especially weekends," Habig said.
Another resident said she has lived in Bend her whole life and floating the river is a "peaceful activity."
"Just like, get out in nature and take a break from everything," said Jade Nischikawa.
With a continued rise in tourism and inviting weather, the Bend Parks and Recreation District recorded 189,000 river users from Memorial Day to the end of July. They successfully track users with the trail counters at the Bend Whitewater Park.
Bend's Parks and Rec Communications and Community Relations Manager Julie Brown said they expect the August totals to be lower than earlier this summer or last year, due to wild smoke and somewhat lower temperatures for several days.
