The Deschutes River north of Maupin was, for years, a go to fishing spot. There are BLM camp sites along the river from the bridge on Highway 197 to Mack’s Canyon.
When we moved to Central Oregon it was with a thought that we’d spend time on the lower Deschutes.
However, we’ve since discovered the Crooked, Fall and Upper Deschutes and haven’t been to Maupin in over a year.
This year, as we were planning camping excursions. I noticed there is an extension of the BLM land South of Maupin.
In all those years we never even looked that way!
This week we decided to take a day trip back to the old fishing spots and checkout this new area.
The scouting trip was interesting.
That stretch of the river flows through a much tighter canyon and while there are some nice stetches of water, for the most part steep banks and narrow roads make this a much less inviting area.
We headed North, downriver, to our favorite parking spot … Oak Springs. We enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back to home.
Lower Deschutes is on the camping list, but we’ll be back to old haunts rather than any of these newly scouted sites.
Maybe not good for camping but the photos are fantastic!
Thanks! It is a beautiful landscape.