Visit with Good Friends and Introduction to the Deschutes

Sorry for the long delay since the last blog. We've been in a lot of "no cell" areas and have had a delightfully busy time with friends. We're going to catch up in two stages: this blog will take us through Monday Oct. 3. We left the Umpqua and drove north to visit our friends Wayne and Ellen just over the Oregon state line in White Salmon, WA. They moved here from Maryland about a year ago. We planned to stay a few days with them and then drive over to Portland to meet Jack's fishing buddy Bud, who is flying in from CA to fish with Jack for a week.

Since we would pass the next river on Jack's list, the Deschutes, on the way up to White Salmon, we planned to stop and check it out. We had also read in our fishing guidebooks about the Crooked River, a wild and scenic river that is a tributary of the Deschutes and holds a lot of trout. Since we were also driving near it on Wednesday before we got to the Deschutes itself, we decided to stop and check it out. It's a tailwater of a dammed reservoir used for irrigation, but the 8-mile section downstream from the dam is on BLM land and it's a perfect-looking little trout stream. There were a lot of campgrounds on its banks, so we decided to stay and camp there one night and see if Jack could catch a fish. (By his rules, a fish caught in a major tributary of the Top 100 stream counts as a check-off.)

We pulled into a BLM campground called Poison Butte Campground ($4 a night with our Senior Natl Park card), and he fished for several hours with no luck. A woman moved into the river just downstream of him about dusk and he thought she must have seen something rising, but she didn't appear to catch anything. She left before it got dark and Jack moved into the hole where she had been fishing. Carol gave up watching and went back to the van to read. It got darker and darker and Carol wondered whether Jack would be able to find his way back to the van! She turned on the outside light as a beacon for him (we were the only ones in this campground that night). Finally he stumbled in, literally, way after dark to report that a big caddis hatch had come off just at dark and he had finally caught a trout, so he could check this river off (takes the pressure off, even though he and Bud will have lots more chances to catch a trout in the Deschutes next week).

Jack fishing the beautiful Crooked River.

We had breakfast and departed the next morning, our plan being to check out the Deschutes River and our cabin at The Oasis Resort in Maupin on our way to White Salmon. We rented a small rustic cabin with two beds right next to the river for next week when Bud is here, since our van would be very close quarters for three people to live and sleep in, so we stopped and looked at the place--looks cozy and cute, should do fine. The little town (pop: 463) is all about the river--rafting the rapids in summer and fishing for steelhead and trout all year. The river is wide and strong; we scouted it in a few places, and stopped at a fly shop near our cabin to talk to them about fishing and flies. And they finally had some fly threaders that Jack has been looking for, to help him when changing flies on the river since it's getting hard to see to thread the fine leaders through the tiny holes.

Our first look at the  mighty Deschutes, near our cabin in Maupin.

Fly shop next to our cabin in Maupin.

After amusing ourselves in and around Maupin for a couple of hours, we continued on our way to Wayne and Ellen's house, arriving about 5:30 pm. It was great to see them both again! Looks like the Pacific Northwest agrees with them very well. They are currently renting a charming, vintage house on a hill overlooking the Columbia River. They also can see Mt Hood from their front porch. And their landlady loves landscaping, so their yard is like something from a magazine! Wayne, who is an awesome cook (actually they both are), prepared an exotic vegetarian Ethiopian dish for supper, with some tastes of his amazing chocolate and huckleberry homemade ice creams for dessert.

Shots of Wayne and Ellen's adorable house in White Salmon, WA.

We had good wine and great talks, catching up on the last year's worth of activities and all the folks we know in common. They had some suggestions for things to see and do in the area while we're here. For the next day's activities, we decided to see the Yakama Nation's salmon fishery on the Klickitat River Trail, and also visit a winery, of which there are several here.

On Friday, we had to walk just a short way up the Klickitat Trail to see the Yakama people engaged in their traditional salmon fishing--fascinating! They construct somewhat rickety-looking wooden platforms that cling tenuously to the steep rocky cliffs, and they hang out on these over the monstrous rapids with long-handled nets to catch the large salmon jumping up the falls. Looks dangerous! We saw several large salmon being caught in this way. It was very cool to see!

Member of Yakama Nation catching nice salmon in his net as it tries to jump up the falls.

After watching this mesmerizing activity for awhile, we walked to a more secluded spot overlooking the river canyon and had a picnic of sandwiches, and then started off for the Syncline winery. There we did a wine tasting of several very good wines, and enjoyed talking to the handsome young man who was pouring. He was a graduate level philosophy major who had spent some time in the movie biz in LA and then decided he wanted to try his hand at the wine business instead. Interesting guy. He seems committed. He especially likes to write all the crazy stuff about their wines: "has aromas of wet stone complemented by notes of white pepper and star fruit." That kind of thing. We bought some of their very good wine. Couldn't really smell the wet stone aroma though. The guy as much as admitted he just makes that stuff up!

Wayne, Ellen and Carol at picnic site on edge of canyon overlooking the river.

Wine tasting.

After that, we decided to drive down onto a sandy beach area on the Columbia River Gorge and watch the kiteboarders (after stopping to pick up Maya, a Rottweiler belonging to a friend of theirs, who loves to go on outings with Wayne and Ellen). Kiteboarding is a major sport here--it's like surfing while being pulled by a giant kite. They move really fast and go way up in the air, even turning somersaults at times. Wayne and Ellen's son Weston and his wife Natalie are kiteboarders--one of the reasons they chose to live here after graduating from Va. Tech. Maya had a grand ol' time playing with the other dogs on the beach, until two tiny little Huskie pups started attacking her (playfully) and freaked her out!

Wayne and Maya with kiteboarders in background.

Kiteboarders on Columbia River Gorge near Hood River.

On our way back to their house, we stopped and bought some King salmon for supper and Wayne smoked it at home using his special method and it was absolutely the best salmon either of us have had! Also had a great green salad, with pears--this area is very big on pears, as well as lots of other kinds of fruit. And he also made a new batch of homemade huckleberry ice cream. We're in heaven. We made a plan for Saturday, which was to go on a hike to a waterfall, to be followed by a soak at a local hot springs, and then dinner somewhere in the area. Not a bad plan.

It was a little rainy and cool on Saturday so we suited up in rain gear for the approx. 4-mile hike to the waterfall. Nice hike, a little steep at times, but we took our time and stopped to look at the beautiful scenery. The waterfall was spectacular--200+ feet in three different levels! We had tuna sandwiches there, made with Wayne's homemade bread, and some good chocolate. Yum. We then drove to nearby Carson Hot Springs, a historic public hot springs where you pay for an hour-or-so soak in their mineral pool. Ahhhhh, perfect after a hike on a cool, rainy day! We then headed for a pizza place in Hood River, a quirky cute town, for supper. We ate outdoors on the patio, but they had heaters so it was pleasant. (They will even bring you a blankie if you want one.) People are nice and friendly and relaxed here. We had more huckleberry ice cream when we got home. To die for.

Some of the grand scenery as we hiked up to the waterfall.

We made it! Jack and Carol pose with waterfall.

Wayne and Ellen and waterfall.

We loved our few days with Wayne and Ellen and seeing their new world, but Sunday we had to say farewell, as our friend Bud was flying in and we had to pick him up at the Portland airport, about an hour's drive away. (Bud is also a friend of Wayne and Ellen, so we made plans to all get together at some point while he's here, since we won't be too far away.)

Bud arrived on time and we headed first to a fly shop in Portland, since Jack needed some new boots with studs on them, to safely wade the Deschutes River, which can be dangerous since it's such a big and powerful river. We found the Orvis shop, he got the boots (Carol's early Christmas and birthday present to him), and both he and Bud picked the brains of the guys working there, and bought some flies that are supposed to work well for the Deschutes trout. We then drove a "back way" to Maupin, going by Mount Hood and the Warm Springs Tribes reservation, and stopping for groceries and general supplies. We arrived at our fishing camp cabin about dark and got checked in, and had a fairly early night, with plans to scout the river and go fishing on Monday morning.

The morning was cloudy but pleasant. We had breakfast at the cabin and then drove around a bit to get the lay of the land (and the river, which is intimidatingly long and large). We found some river access roads and located a couple spots that the Orvis fly shop guys in Portland had recommended. During the scouting, we also went to look at White River Falls State Park, a small and seemingly very lightly visited park on a nice waterfall, which is also the site of a historic power plant. (White River is another tributary of the Deschutes.) The ruins are still there and Jack and Bud enjoyed looking at them. We had a picnic lunch (beanies and weenies) at the park.

White River Falls.

Bud and Jack check out the power plant ruins at the state park.

Jack and Bud finally settled down to fish at the Oak Springs BLM campground on the Deschutes Access Road, one of the "secret spots" that one Orvis guy had mentioned, and Carol took photos and watched birds. The guidebooks say to try to break this river down into different smaller rivers and focus just on the characteristics of the spot you're fishing and try to psych out what the fish are doing and eating there--i.e., stay put for a while and don't keep looking for greener pastures. They both tried a few different flies. Bud finally caught a nice trout, but Carol wasn't ready with the camera so we didn't get a picture of that one, unfortunately. Jack didn't catch anything this time. They were hoping for an evening hatch, but never saw anything rising so quit fishing when it got dark, resolving to try a different spot tomorrow.

Power plant ruins on White River.

Bud demonstrating good casting technique.

"The boys" fishing at dusk on the Deschutes.

We'll continue with more about the Deschutes fishing in the next blog, since we'll be here for awhile. I know we're behind on days, but we'll catch up soon!