Finally made it to boat the Deschutes from Shears Falls to the mouth. It was good to be on a Northwest river, back in my home stompin' grounds. I always love to get back to the columnar basalt and the deep canyons of central Oregon.
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| Columnar Basalt: A NW original |
We spent three days, but after talking to the ranger at the take-out we found out some folks take 9 days. We had an ok trip I guess, but the train that idled all night 300' from our tent is still a little too fresh not to mention. There were so many outhouses that we didn't have to dirty the groover, which was a post trip bonus. Saw lots of people, but also had lots of campsite choices. We didn't do much hiking because it was pretty hot and, although we saw none, the warning of rattlesnakes made us a little leery. I'd love to do more hiking, but the private land boundarys are complicated. The rapids were not of too much concern, but I can see how some folks could get in trouble being in the wrong entry for some of them.
It was nice to hang out with my dad, who did the shuttle. He has a lifetime of exploring this river and has tons of stories of adventure. One of which he told was of a time in the '60's when they paddled an old campways raft back across the river on three baffles, where they could walk back to the truck, after a packraft had chewed a hole in it.
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| Buck Hollow put-in |
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| Deschutes beer is best on a Deschutes float of course |
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| some canyon walk |
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| Lovely little campsite |
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| Heritage Landing take-out |
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