7 DKCC?ers (Rick Raymond, Byron Robertson, Sandy Frost, Tim Riordin, Roger Marchant, Allen Minton and Randy Minton) descended the North Fork of the John Day for Memorial Day weekend. We had 3 cats and 4 kayaks. The river is marginally suitable for canoes if paddled by experienced paddlers. We camped/launched at the put in just down stream from the junction of the Camas Ck and NFJD. It is a nice place to camp. Toilets and fire pans are now required on the NFJD. Barb McCormack did the shuttle for us for $60. It went off with out a hitch. She was right on time at 8:00 AM. We saw no other boats at the put in. In fact, we only saw one other boat on the entire trip! The river was much higher than usual (7,500 CFS). It increased the size of the rapids, but they still were class 2 just bigger. We had no trouble. We drifted at a velocity of 7 MPH. We camped after 18 miles the first day directly across from the confluence of the NFJD and MFJD. It was a very nice camp spot. We had sun into the evening and early the next morning. There is plenty of fire wood and the view is great. Allen and Sandy paddled over and inspected the MFJD. Lots of wild flowers. Birds were great this year. I got a new one-the pygmy nuthatch! I also saw many Lewis? woodpeckers. One highlight was a western tanager. It has a red/orange head with a yellow body. Also saw mergansers, mallards, herons, robins, stellers Jay, common nighthawks, kestrels, hummingbirds, magpies, crows, brewer?s blackbirds, western kingbirds, phoebes, and maybe a shrike.
North Fork of John Day Trip Report
Posted - Jun 02 2004 : 07:39:41 AM
