Well, somehow summer has passed and here we are in fall. There were fewer trips and more work days than I would have preferred. It was a heck of a fire and smoke season in Oregon this year. Oh and there was this eclipse thing.
Even when we got back to fishing there was plenty of smoke and fire action to be had.
The Grande Ronde was the last in the string of spring and early summer overnight floats on the calendar. Located in far northeastern Oregon it’s a bit of a drive to get to but well worth if for the scenery and great floating. The flows had been running high all spring and they didn’t come down enough to provide for any good fishing for this trip, but that was the overall theme for most of the trips this year. With high flows the trip was short each day on the water, with 2 to 3 hours being enough to get you to the next camp.
As always the scenery was spectacular.
The most plentiful wildlife seemed to be swallowtail butterflies which were out in droves.
Well, a three day turnaround between the Owyhee and the North Fork John Day river trips was pretty luxurious for prep time so we shortened it down to one day back home before we were headed to our third river in three weeks, the lower John Day. The Clarno to Cottonwood float is about 70 miles and you can’t have any appreciation for the country you float through unless you see it from the water.
You start out in some pretty, well, lets just say, agricultural, country. Country infested with noxious weeds, showing lots of signs of erosion, plenty of cows eating down the riparian area and broken down abandoned equipment.
But before the end of the first day you start to get away from all that and you float into paradise for the next 4 days.
