The John Day River is the longest undammed river in Oregon. We were able to get out and enjoy a few pieces of it this spring. Our first stop was the South Fork, catching up to it flowing north toward Dayville. The South Fork is a decent sized stream, especially during spring runoff, surrounded by a picturesque canyon through most of it's run before it spills into the main fork of the John Day. Coincidentally,…
Veterans Day gave us a long weekend, where would we go? There were lots of parades to choose from but in the end we decided to get away from it all. Surprised? If you are you haven’t been following along very well. Go back and read the other 99 posts (yes this is post 100!, can you believe it?) that came before this one. We headed out Friday after work and by 5:30 it was basically dark. We pulled into Chickahominy before it got too late and enjoyed a small fire as the cold wind came across the high desert. It didn’t take to long for the owl to start up, then it got closer. We were able to pick him out standing on top of a pole next to camp. He must have been 5 feet tall. We’ve been lucky with owls and coyotes near camp this year. It would be easier to list the camps with no owls or coyotes, there have been that many. Speaking of coyotes, they started up before bed and went on late into the night as well. Not a bad spot for a roadside stop.
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.
