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50+ Reasons We Love The Deschutes

This article was published on: 04/24/20 3:04 PM

Thank you for helping us celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day this week by sending in your reasons you love the Deschutes Basin. As promised, here they are!

50+ Reasons We Love The Deschutes

  1. Favorite fishing spots throughout the Deschutes Basin (I could tell you, but…) 🙂
  2. The Bear Grass when it’s blooming on the trail to Four in One Cone via Scott Trail.
  3. Kayaking on the Crooked River!
  4. Red-Winged blackbirds on the river in the Spring
  5. The smell of Juniper and Sage
  6. Sun reflecting off the basalt rimrock along the canyon rims of the Deschutes at sunset and sunrise
  7. The home it provides for fish, wildlife, insects, plants, and all riparian life.
  8. The beauty the basin provides every day through the sights and sounds it creates.
  9. Fly fishing the Deschutes River, and don’t mind if I don’t catch a thing! just hiking along taking the beauty makes for time well spent.
  10. Deschutes – Tranquil waters lined by yellow aspen against black lava
  11. Peculiar river … The Deschutes is fed from the bowels of the earth (80% of its flow is from groundwater) giving it one of the most stable hydrographs for a large river
  12. Whychus – The lost river that has been found (lost its name, water, fish, and revelry and now all have been restored)
  13. Whychus – The sculpted rocks of the narrows
  14. Whychus – lush meadows lined by black rim rock canyons
  15. Magical solitude camping adventures with the kids
  16. The solitude that one can embrace is wonderful.
  17. Love our lands of Oregon as my ancestors have for thousands of years and (finding) one of many treasures of Oregon…a thunderegg. Keep your eyes sharp…you might also find your own treasures on the tributaries of the Deschutes.
  18. Wildflowers in the high alpine meadows around Broken Top.
  19. The cold clear spring waters that make the River; (for example) Snow Creek Headwaters, a tributary to the Upper Deschutes.
  20. Hiking the cone at Bachelor.
  21. The beauty of a frosty morning at Lava Lands.
  22. Paddling along the Deschutes in town.
  23. Sunrise over the Sisters and Broken Top.
  24. Steelhead fishing.
  25. Aspens in Fall colors along the River.
  26. Watching the surfers, floaters, fishermen/women, the fish, the birds, the wildlife visiting for a drink, and more! What would this area be without this fluid centerpiece of life and activity?!
  27. Fall colors in the River!
  28. Red Chair on Mt Bachelor.
  29. Kayaking with my kids!
  30. Floating the Lower Deschutes chasing Steelhead!
  31. Boating, Biking, Beans, and Brew!
  32. Fly fishing and Stand Up Paddling!
  33. Deschutes River: Was the westernmost border of the great Shoshone people. Incredible heritage at the mouth of the Deschutes and the mighty Columbia River.
  34. So many public land access points and so much solitude.
  35. Monkey Face staring back at you during sunset!
  36. Finding the confluence of the Fall River with the Deschutes
  37. My favorite campsite at Sparks Lake- Close to one of the sources of the Deschutes
  38. Wild lupin along the Deschutes River Trail
  39. Tumalo Falls when it snows
  40. Finding the confluence of Tumalo Creek and The Deschutes River
  41. Steelhead Falls in the fall
  42. The red-orange glow on Smith Rock reflected in the Crooked River
  43. Finding the perfect wave
  44. Paddling during golden hour
  45. I love the Deschutes Basin for the home it provides for fish, wildlife, insects, plants, and all riparian life. Also for the beauty it provides every day through the sights and sounds it creates.
  46. My traditional lands and part of our N-Chi-Wana for eons. Never to be relinquished, ever.
  47. Fly fishing the Deschutes River, and don’t mind if I don’t catch a thing — just hiking along taking the beauty makes for time well spent.
  48. I love the headwaters of the Deschutes River out of Little Lava lake probably more than anywhere…last year I went and the stream bed was dry out of the lake but then when it opened up into the wide, meadow area it filled up again, showing where the springs are.
  49. This is my home. Where my friends and family live.
  50. Full moon evenings on Elk Lake in our kayaks…an annual event that we treasure.
  51. Fly fishing on the Upper Deschutes with my Dad and my son.
  52. The water makes damn tasty beer!
  53. Hiking along the Deschutes River Trail with my Labrador and a mug of coffee.
  54. The peaceful places where no people are fishing.
  55. Secret warm(er than the middle Deschutes) swimming holes at Prineville Reservoir
  56. Bluebird days cross-country skiing around Todd lake
  57. I can’t wait to get back and paddle!

We are all missing these experiences and places during this time. One day soon we will be out there with our friends and loved ones again to enjoy them and each other!

Hang in there!

Your friends at the Deschutes River Conservancy