Hiking

Sunshine Coast, B.C., 2019, Part 1

Back in February and March the snowpack in the southeast part of Oregon was great and it was looking like our plans for floating the Owyhee River in mid-May were going to hit the intersection of good flows and good weather just right. Then the flows started dropping, the snowpack ran out, and by the first week of May the trip was in question. Right up until the morning we were set to drive to the launch we were still determined to go. We were packed and ready, with just one work day to get through and we’d be river bound. Then the phone rang. The rest of the party changed plans due to borderline low flows. So here we were, days off planned, supplies packed. What’s the backup plan? We didn’t want to waste our big block of time off. We pointed north and headed to British Columbia for a 5 day road trip. Within a day we were on a ferry on the first leg of the Sunshine Coast.

Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal
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Waterfalls of the Umpqua, 2018

Who knew the North Umpqua had so many waterfalls?  I sure didn’t.  But following our recent tour, I’m impressed.

North Umpqua

I’ve certainly traveled the North Umpqua before, but I’ve actually not spent the time I would have liked to actually.  I certainly knew it was a place of great beauty, but other than a day of fishing a small stretch I really hadn’t had the time to dig in.  This past weekend was the first attempt to remedy that.

North Umpqua

After stumbling across a web brochure I was surprised at the number of waterfalls either on or running into the North Umpqua.  Add in a great campground and we had a weekend.

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Wandering the Trout Creek Mountains, 2018

Every once in a while plans change.  This time around we’ll blame it on the weather.  We were all set to head to the lake and then the weather forecast came along saying snow.  Well, yeah, it’s possible to fish in the snow, but I know when to cut my losses.  And just like that we were off to the southeast corner of Oregon.

A trip to begin exploring the Trout Creek Mountains has been on the list for quite a while, but it takes a while to get there, and time is the typical limiting factor.  But we had a tree day weekend on our side, so off we went.  The first night we made it as far as Steens Mountain and enjoyed a good camp surrounded by yipping coyotes.  Then we were off to the Trout Creeks.

It’s tough to find a lot of information on the Trout Creek mountains.  It’s actually a bit of a challenge to even find an accurate map showing which roads are open and passable.  But we managed to improvise and get around.  This was after all and exploratory mission.

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