Fall on the Deschutes River, 2019

It’s always a bittersweet time of year. I always look forward to being on the river, especially the Deschutes River in the fall. But, it means the fishing season is coming to a close. Shorter days and closures are in the future. In the meantime, fall brings the chance for a steelhead, and the trout are feasting as the fall insects hatch.

I was lucky enough to get on the river three times this fall. Two shorter trips in September and then a longer one in October. In the end there were few steelhead in the river and none on the line. Oh well, the trout, the wildlife and the views were all top notch.

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Summer at Odell Lake, 2019

Where did summer go? Luckily I can say part of it was spent trolling for kokanee at Odell Lake and watching osprey fly high above the spruce trees at Trapper Creek. Here is a compilation of photos from a few trips over the summer.

Sunrise, Diamond Peak, Mt. Yoran
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Malheur, 2019

Labor day had come and gone. Summer fishing adventures in the high Cascades are winding down and we are moving on to our list of fall destinations. Counting the possible destinations and the number of weekends available until Thanksgiving rolls around, it seems the numbers don’t quite match up. But, we’ll get out to see what we can see and maybe have a list left over for next year. The first stop turned out to be a trip to the high country of the Malheur National Forest, and the headwaters of the Malheur river.

This is familiar country to me but I haven’t visited in a long time. I used to hunt deer and elk here regularly but with how difficult it is to draw a tag now in Oregon and how lousy the hunting is I’ve concentrated more on fishing the last several years. It was good to be back and see the country again. With the days getting shorter we arrived in the dark on Friday night. First up on Saturday was a hike in the Strawberries to High Lake.

High Lake, down in the bowl, almost hidden by the ridge
High Lake
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