Bushwhacking th Coast Range!

Ran back over the hill to the coast to take advantage of the couple days of dry weather. Once we got over the pass and took a peek at the river, we noticed it was down and in great condition! This watershed has some of the most amazing old-growth timber, including Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce.


Dylan took this shot of me dropping down between a fallen tree. Definitely a DENSE forest.


These trees were larger than life. We were in the land of the giants.




Dylan, Taylor, and I, geared up to start whackin brush.


This lush rain forest is full of moss, lichens, mushrooms, and other forms of life that need this moist, thick, dense forest to survive.



At one point, we came across an old road.


This helped the bush-whacking for about 100yds... At the end of the road, we noticed an old bridge crossing the creek.


We walked down the creek, took some pics, and kept on scaling the river banks.



Here, I was just playin with how long I could leave it open without ruining the shot...


We made our way up, from hole to hole, and finally Taylor hooks into one. It looked like a good head-shaker at first, but then......We got to see it. . . Poor little Boot! However, we made SURE that Taylor got a picture with his prized catch!


I mean, this was a pretty nasty-looking fish. Along the river rocks, I think I noticed his last Spawning buddy! ...they looked about the same! hahaha!


The hike itself was a good couple miles through some of the thickest coastal rainforest. I admit, I'm a little sore today in the legs! Crawling up and over downed trees that are larger than cars in diameter can do that to ya! But its SOOOO worth the solitude!! Fish on!



Looks like its time to start gearing up for Winter Steelhead! We saw a couple of those caught. Time to scale down the gear and start targeting the Steel!

Buy Your Decals Now~!!

Here are some pictures of the White Decals. These are best for Windows, trucks, cars, canopies, etc...

Tuna Bomb- Civil War Stylee (2nd Annual! brought back!)

TUNA! Bomb, I must say...

First of all, I've gotta thank FREAKWATER for his recipe (with a few modifications for personal taste) I've fixed it quite a few times now, and I just can't get sick of it. Love it! Thanks!

So, we decided we needed something better for snacks than just chips and salsa and Fat Tires for the game..... we did some brainstorming and agreed this sounded TOOO good and was the perfect size.

It turned out great (as usual ) Try this sometime! You WON'T be sorry.
MMMMmmmmmmmmm!

Eastern Oregon Excursion

Having the day off, Dylan and I decided we were going fishing, we just didn't know where. We checked out the usual choice of the coast. However, it seemed as though every coastal river was blown out from the storm and was unfishable. We quickly put our heads together and decided to head east! Lets try the Deschutes or the John Day! We decided to make our way east on 84.


View John Day River Trip in a larger map
Thanks to some dead dinosaurs, we fueled the car and ventured on.



We kept bombing past Multnomah Falls, but I was still able to get a few good shots!



Right around Bonneville the showers began. A few miles in, we noticed a NICE boat on the side of the road, headed east


... As we got closer, we noticed it was SEELICIOUS!...the boat we Tuna fish for, all summer!


Bud had the motors taken off, and it was on its' way back to North Carolina to have some work done on the hull. Small world!
The journey continued and we guessed the rain would quit once we hit the east side of the range, and luckily, this was exactly the case.


Through the tunnel, and on to the east side, we kept on driving. Dylan and I made our way through The Dalles and past Hood River.





We rounded the corner to see the mouth of the Deschutes River.



The river looked to be in great shape, so we knew we'd have good conditions at the John Day also! We took the Biggs Junction and made our way SE. We saw the smallest of towns.. Like the ones you'd make horror movies based upon. Here's Wasco. Not even a 'One-stoplight town'.


Making our way deeper into Eastern Oregon, we ventured across some unique places...


Heading across the open plains we noticed all of the wind farms and the GIANT wind machines!



These things were so large! It was amazing listening to these things hummmmmmm, and the power they must be producing!


We came across fields and fields of wind machines. Eventually, our road began winding its way down the canyon to the bottom.



These farms were everywhere out on the plains. We had to stop and take lots of pictures...


Saw an old Windmill with the new ones behind it... thought it was a great picture!

Came across some old homesteads that had been long-abandoned..



We were excited, knowing that our destination laid at the bottom of this vast ravine.


We pulled into the parking lot, geared up, and got our waders on.


We pulled up just in time to notice a couple guys that were just taking out. They had been on an 80-mile float that lasted 10 days!


These guys were burley! One guy was lucky enough to apply and GET DRAWN for a big-horn sheep tag. Just two days earlier (thurs.) this guy was so lucky, they had a herd of sheep up the hillside and they made their stalk. After 3 shots, he was fortunate enough to earn a trophy of a lifetime!


Not too many people on earth can ever say they shot a big-horn sheep! Was a beautiful animal!



Click on the picture and check out the road. A truck along the road gives a good idea of how far away this was.


Anyway, the wind was howling down the canyon, making it feel like 30 degrees out there! Was SOO COLD! However, we bundled up, walked up the canyon and started fishing.


The catching wasn't so great, but we did see a nice steelhead caught as well as a couple that had followed my lure all the way up to the surface a few times, yet never decided to bite! Grrr!



Now THAT'S frustrating! Oh well, it was our first time trying that river so we expected very little. However, the scenery was absolutely amazing, and just being able to see such geological formations was awesome!


We are so fortunate to live in Oregon and have this dynamic landscape available to us!