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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Umpqua, 2019

We escaped town on a Friday afternoon in August and made our way over to the North Umpqua River. We attempted to camp at Susan Creek, a nice campground we discovered last year but we found it full so we moved upriver to Bogus Creek for the night.

North Umpqua

In the morning, we moved on to the main purpose of the trip, a visit to the Umpqua Valley Viticultural Area. Also known as a winery tour.

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Tuna Run, 2019

August has come around again, and with it the necessary trip to the coast to restock the freezer with tuna. This year hasn’t been quite as hot or smoky as the past couple years but nevertheless this trip always serves as a quick getaway to a change of weather and scenery mid summer.

View from camp
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