Lower Deschutes float is lovely

Published 5:00 am Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Deschutes River, which flows from Little Lava Lake in the Cascades to the Columbia River up north, offers everything from adrenaline-filled whitewater rafting to family-friendly leisure floats. The 100-mile segment known as the Lower Deschutes officially starts at Warm Springs, an hour north of Bend, and is a great launching point for an easy, family-style day trip.

The Class II (that means gentle) stretch of river that ends 9.5 miles downstream at Trout Creek Campground lacks any real whitewater, making it easy enough for even novice paddlers to navigate, but it includes enough riffles to stay interesting. The girls on our cataraft — age 6 and 7 — dangled from the boat in the still sections of water and screamed with exhilaration while getting splashed in the wave trains and small rapids.

The Lower Deschutes was designated an Oregon Scenic Waterway in 1970 and a Federal Wild and Scenic River in 1988. In other words, it’s incredibly pretty — a stunning canyon with huge basalt cliffs, flanked with juniper and sage. Alders line the river banks. We saw lots of osprey, several herons, a waxwing and mergansers.

It takes just a couple of hours to float, if you keep moving. We extended our day by stopping a couple of times on shore to try some fishing, eat snacks and reapply sunscreen. Our daughter and her friend spent hours digging with sticks in the dirt, discovering fascinating detritus.

The girls didn’t catch any fish that day. My husband was too busy helping them to fish much on his own. But word is that this is a terrific fishery, and we passed at least a dozen anglers, even though it was midday in some brutal heat.

According to The Fly Fisher’s Place (www.flyfishersplace.com) in Sisters, there might be 3,500 trout per mile in the stretch we floated. The shop’s website offers tips about aquatic insect hatches and appropriate fishing gear. The business is one of several that offers guided fishing trips if that’s your thing. Don’t forget a fishing license.

Some rules:

• Fishing from the boat is prohibited. You must pull over and wade if you want to fling a fly.

• The Luelling Homestead, about one-third of the way down on river right (the east side), is the only private land on this stretch of river. Respect private property.

• River left, the west side of the river, is the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, and trespassing is prohibited. Special permits can be obtained in some instances. (Call The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs at 541-553-2001 with questions.) This applies to the islands on the left side of the river, too.

But there’s plenty to do on the right side of the river. A string of camps along the bank provides great picnic areas or overnight stops if you want to bring camping gear. Unfortunately, we missed a great spot at Grassy Camp for our lunch break because we were focused on nailing a little midriver riffle, and before we knew it we were downstream from the camp.

Logistics

Obviously, you need a boat for this outing. We saw rafts, inflatable and hard-shelled kayaks and drift boats the day we went. Officials say canoes float this section, but canoeing would call for some more advanced paddling skills. If you don’t own a boat or can’t borrow one from a friend, there are plenty of places to rent one. Everyone needs a personal flotation device, too.

Then you need to arrange a shuttle to get your car from the put-in spot at Warm Springs — on U.S. Highway 26 — to the take-out spot at Trout Creek Campground.

You could figure out a shuttle system with a second car, I suppose, but it would require a lot more time in a car for a couple of people. And, since we were just a one-car group, my husband called Affordable Deschutes Shuttle and arranged to have our car waiting for us where we finished. (Our cost: $45.) You also need a boater pass. Cost depends on the size of the group and the day you go. (For our group of four on a Saturday, it was $32.)

For a decent outdoors adventure with kids, it didn’t consume our entire weekend. We left Bend at 8:30 a.m. and were launching our cataraft at 9:30 a.m. We played on the river for 4 1/2 hours and got home by 4 p.m. And that was with a delay to fix a flat tire on the road out of Trout Creek and a quick stop for Mexican food in Madras. It was a great way to make special memories on a hot summer Saturday.