Following day 2, we were up on the morning of day 3 on the road to the sound of songbirds. We lingered over some coffee and then headed south along the byway. We had a hike we really wanted to get to way upstream on the Owyhee. I wasn’t to sure about fitting it in since it was so far out, but after reviewing the maps we ran across the road past Crutcher Crossing then up the other side of the Owyhee would get us there. Or so I thought. We had an entire day of exploration to get to where we might take off for a hike. Plenty of time even if the road was slow going. It started out beautiful, full of wildflowers and absent of people.
May was quickly approaching and rivers in Oregon were closed. Our trip down the Owyhee River we planned for 6 months was doomed. Time to make other plans. It is pretty easy to find remote spots in the Owyhee country, so it seemed like the logical choice was to head for the same country, but switch from a river trip to a truck camping trip. Before we knew it our days off rolled around. It…
November typically signals the end to river floating season. In the past, seeing November roll around was a bit depressing. No more floating, fishing is pretty much over and the days are really short on daylight. It seems nowadays there’s no shortage of things to get done in November, so it’s not all that depressing, but it still marks the end of river floating season. And wow, was 2017 a season for floats.
I feel very lucky to be able to live in a place that I can float 7 rivers in a year (some multiple times) all within a one day drive of the doorstep. So these are my thoughts reflecting back on a year of being lucky enough to float over 360 miles on 7 rivers in Oregon in 2017.
Deschutes
James Bond Isle
How amazing is it to have the Deschutes as your backyard river? 1.5 hours to the put in, abundant permits, amazing trout fishing with bonus steelhead in the fall, and great camping and even hiking if you make the time for it. Trips to the Deschutes are kind of the bookend to the floating season. It is typically one of, if not the first trips of the season and is also commonly the last trip. It seems like it is always a good time to float the Deschutes with a wide season of good weather, predictable flows and great fishing, I don’t know what else to ask of a river. Fishing seems like it is on the decline, but I don’t ever see a year in the future without the Deschutes.
