I went back to the Deschutes this weekend and played at Surf City and Lower Elevator.
I was in my X.
This was defintely a worthwhile trip, but the surfing didn't work out very well, although I had fun trying.
Surf City was very easy to get established on, but it was rather hard to get long rides. In fact, I didn't get any long rides, and it was hard just getting medium length rides. I think the problem was that the wave would be steep enough for awhile and then it would not be steep enough. The surfer's left side was stable enough, but surfer's right was pretty transient as in one moment there would be enough wave to surf and the next moment there wouldn't be.
About 90% of the time, I was fighting just to stay on the wave, either paddling hard foreward or leaning way foreward and paddling or trying to maneuver to the steepest part of the wave.
I had fun at Lower Elevator, but the surfing was a bust for me. I would try and try and I'd just get the occaisional short ride. The fun part was paddling around in the squirrely water, which is all over at that spot. There is a wave about even with the downstream end of the rocky island on river right. That wave was easy to catch, but tricky to get a decent ride on. I think the problem was that it would go flat and let you off. Sometimes it worked to stay on surfer's left.
The next wave upstream of that one, was nice, but the surfable part was pretty narrow, and hard to catch. I did get one really good ride on it, but that was in 2 long play sessions. Again, this wave was a little too transient.
These transient waves were sort of frustrating. I've always enjoyed a surgey wave way more than a perfectly stable one. However, when you feel like you are making the correct moves, and then the wave suddenly goes into an unsurfable shape causing you wash over the top, that gets old.
When you paddle up the river left eddy to load the waves, you have to brace about 6 times, and I thought this was good practice.
I'm thinking that maybe some of these waves will get more stable if the river drops a little bit. Hopefully it won't be at this exact level all summer.
I went and looked at the Trestle Hole. There was nothing there but a wave. There was a wave hole on the other side of the island from the Trestle Hole. We've played at this spot quite a bit, but not in a few years. I was just looking from the road and from the overlook above the Trestle Hole, so I couldn't really tell anything.
The Deschutes is getting expensive. $2 per person per day plus $6 per day if its a summer weekend plus up to a $3 vendor fee if you buy it at a buisness rather than on-line. Camping is $12.
I camped with some people, and they had already paid for a group site, so I was covered there.
I caught 3 trout this morning. They were not very big (about 10, 12, and 13 inches - just guessing), but they were very healthy and robust looking, and they did seem to fight pretty hard. I didn't even touch them. I just grabbed the jig, which had a debarbed hook, and unhooked them, and they darted off.
I saw a very small snake. It was curled up on the leaves on a big grass plant, like a python in a tree.
I also saw some Lewis's woodpeckers. They were in the trees on the west side of the river above the Oak Springs Rapid (the north end of these trees). They were flying around catching flies. If you want to look for them, look for flying birds. Also, the pink breast is usually not visible when the birds are flying. They look mostly black in flight, and only accaisionally do you see the pink breast and light colored band on the shoulders. Of course, that depends on the the distance and angle and the angle of the sun. This is only the second time in my life that I've seen these birds. The first was on the North Fork of the John Day this spring.
Deschutes again 4100 cfs 7 10th and 11th 2010
Posted - Jul 11 2010 : 8:03:15 PM
