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April 28, 2024April 27, 2024

Spring at Cottonwood

A dog friendly cabin, our favorite, at Cottonwood Canyon State Park.

A few years ago we discovered a spot on the lower John Day with cabins, bass fishing and great walking paths. Since then we try to snag cabin reservations in spring or fall, but it’s no easy task.

It takes some time for the sun to clear these hills in the morning

Cottonwood Canyon State Park is one of Oregon’s newest additions, and for us a cabin makes the overnight easy.

Spring’s growth on sage and in the grasses turns the hills a bright green

We have also made day trips there, as there is an excellent day use area.

Our cabin was one of four sitting on old pasture land. The river runs along the south edge, at the base of rock wall.

Looking south from the cabin toward the river

Walking to the cabin from river’s edge, you pass a line of willow, then cottonwood, across a stone beach, before passing through a hedgerow of sage, onto a grassy plain.

A line of rounded hills mark the park’s northern edge and in April they are green with fresh growth, but only an occasional tree.

Big Horn Sheep can be seen grazing high up amid rocky outcroppings. We’ve also seen a variety of raptors, song birds and Canada Geese.

While area signage warns of cougar or rattlesnakes, we’ve yet to encounter either, which is fortunate.

It’s a peaceful spot to spend some time, wander the banks of the John Day and while not during spring runoff, there are smallmouth bass to catch.

April 21, 2024April 20, 2024

This week was not as full as the last one. We did make it out on a river, but most of the week was focused getting the house clean. The internet is full of before and after images, but not here . . . we just don’t see any reason to take pictures of the mundane.

The days leading into spring, right up to full run off, are great times to be on the rivers. The flows haven’t started to fill stream beds and the warming weather brings more bug activity.

After a winter of dragging wet flies, we are starting to see surface feeding . . . dry fly fishing gets a brief burst.

The mountain snows have already started to fill up rivers, and now we wait for the summer season.

But in the meantime, we had a few great days on the river . . . and the house is clean.

April 14, 2024April 20, 2024

Getting Older

The willow buds are about to burst at Summer Lake Refuge

Over the course of a week we picnicked on three different rivers. It was a busy week . . . at last.

The week also contained Jack’s birthday. We won’t pretend celebrating was limited to a single day. With upcoming posts we’ll catch you up on the state of spring fishing in Oregon.

Getting older gets easier, but there remains a sensitivity to being reminded of the fact. On a recent internet scroll , I hit a meme that suggested a natural outcome of aging was . . . bird watching .

That stung a bit.

The thing is . . . we sort of do bird watch.

We make regular pilgrimages to Summer Lake’s Wildlife Refuge, known for its birding. We have identified most of the regular visitors to trees that surround our house. And, if a raptor should perch nearby, all activity ceases.

I guess that counts as bird watching and as birders we suggest everyone try it.

The Summer Lake spring birding trip also occurred this week. There was a crowd.

Well . . . in reality a ranger, a group of bird watchers and an older couple from Prineville. But that was 8 more than we saw on the winter visit.

A typical wildlife refuge greeting opens with, “you seen anything unusual”? This makes it easy for someone to assess your level of interest and birding acumen .

Our depth of knowledge was tested with the Snowy Plover gaffe of 2023 when we learned to always have a copy of Sibley’s bird book readily at hand.

There weren’t a lot of ‘new’ faces paddling around, just greater numbers. We’re not the counting kind of birders. There are no notebooks. There are however, lots of images, many shared in this blog.

On this trip a muskrat swimming along the dike actually got more attention than an Avocet, a Pelican rookery or Grebes diving.

It’s more of an interest in nature than birdwatching per se. The trick is to just slow down, which so happens is exactly what one does as they get older.

April 7, 2024April 5, 2024

Cronuts on the Crooked

The internet offers a plethora of information. Recently, I was scrolling my Reddit feed and hit an interesting question on “r/bend”.

What are some good doughnut places?

Well, this is a topic I can confidently handle. So, I dove into the conversation.

The posts were a mix of the usual spots, most of them known, tried and never re-visited. However, in the midst of all these regular stops, was one not recognized. This required a bit more digging.

A Cronut is a hybrid between a flakey croissant and a pillowy donut.

Delish Doughnuts is tucked into a strip mall on the north side of Bend.

Its signature offering is something called “Cronuts,” a cross between a croissant and a doughnut. What is not to like about that combo?

I’ll get my donut later , , , first some exploring.

We had planned a jaunt to the Crooked River, so it was a simple task to take a side trip to the doughnut shop and see what the fuss was all about.

The Cronut was good, flaky as you might imagine, and lightly glazed.

However, the real star of the morning was a chocolate frosted chocolate cake. This tender morsel was not just cake-like, but actually tasted like chocolate.

Frosting and cake were on point. We will return.

Now that we were properly fueled up, it was time to hit the stream.

And then this happened ….

I guess winter still has a few surprises in store for us . . .

March 31, 2024March 30, 2024

Getting Outside

The week offered a mixed bag of weather, starting with some warm sunny days and ending with overcast and even snow flurries.

We took advantage of any nice days with time on the river.

The snow has disappeared at lower elevations, but stream levels are still low and it’s possible to get in some fishing. We stopped at a favorite day use area to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.