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!
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