Eastern
Oregon Fix, April 2014
(Ana Reservoir,
Chicahominy, Mann Lake, Page Springs, Krumbo Lake, Poison Creek
Reservoir)
Mon., 4/14/14
Aaaaaaaand…we’re OFF on our trip…
Aaaaaaaand we’re BACK at home within
15 minutes of starting out, to pick up the mirror extensions for the
truck so Chris can see the trailer behind us. No trip is complete
without at least one obligatory trip back to the house to get the one
thing that somehow missed the lists, the planning, the piles, the
organizations, the reminders. We always hope somehow that we’ve
got the crucial stuff we need by the time we reach our first
destination, but there’s always that little bit of adventure in
knowing that anything can be mysteriously forgotten, especially as we
get older.
Nice weather for travelling—Shoppie’s
enjoying her relaxation drug, Chris and I are enjoying his latest
batch of beef jerky, and listening to one of the books on CD that we
had picked up at the library. We arrived at Ana Reservoir, a new
Eastern Oregon place we decided to explore.
Okay, here’s the thing about most
spots in Eastern Oregon: you do learn not to have expectations—a
good life attribute to have. If you have no expectations, life is
good, is it not? Ana Reservoir right away got high marks for us
having the place to ourselves…that’s good, right? It didn’t
take too long to realize why we had the place to ourselves…but we
made the most of it. The fishing got low marks and the
accommodations for campers was about average (the women’s outhouse
door had a rope to hold onto as it didn’t really have a lock per
se…so a decision had to be made on whether to let go of the
“door-has-to-be-locked” mentality to use both hands to take care
of things, or one-hand the whole operation—good thing we had the
place to ourselves!).
We decided to not let first impressions
immediately eliminate this place, and continued to set up the trailer
for camp.
Tue., 4/15/14
We walked around the entire Ana
lake/reservoir today and Chris fished as we went. The wind picked up
and it continued to get colder by the time we got back to camp.
Chris then had this idea to try out “night fishing” to see if
there would be some bites. When he first proposed this technique, I
looked forward to it (cold, windy, dark) about like I look forward to
a trip to the dentist. Once I committed and got out there with him
(and we found some protection from the wind), I have to admit it was
rather magical—the mystery of nightfall—and we saw a pelican
making one last sweep around for fish. There’s a kind of quiet of
the world at night when you feel like you have it all to yourself for
at least a moment…nice.
Wed., 4/16/14
After breakfast, we took on a neat hike
along Ana River that was really beautiful (Chris would have some
added adjectives as the fishing was no good, but he still enjoyed the
walk)—lots of ridge-walking and vistas.
Time to load up and head on to our next
stop: Chicahominy. We showered and cleaned up the trailer, got
Shoppie into the truck (no drugs—and she did fine, even with our
stop for a family nap—ha-ha!)—and another beautiful day
today…heard it was supposed to get bad weather-wise but we’ve
lucked out so far…
Stopped in Riley for water and gas and
arrived in Chicahominy to set up, which included the Satellite Dish
System this time, which always takes re-learning every time we do it.
That’s the way the first trip of the year is though—you have to
get back into the “groove” on how you do things on board. Lots
of “Oh yeah, THIS is where I like to keep this stuff…” etc.
We’ve noticed that with our creativity in space management, we
sometimes out-creative ourselves—takes a while to find items. But
once we locate said items, we’re always amazed by the logic of its
location: “Oh, wasn’t that smart of us to put that there?”
Got our favorite spot at Chicahominy,
had dinner, and got out for some amazing fishing. Wind was just a
breeze, it wasn’t too cold, and we had a beautiful sunset with
birds and quiet—sweet! Caught 6 fish in the first 30 minutes and
it was FUN (for someone who does not enjoy the freezing wind-blown
variety, this was great)! We laughed and fished and filmed a
little—and laughed some more.
Thur., 4/17/14
Morning fishing—and so far, it’s
beautiful…trying not to jinx it and talk about what’s predicted
weather-wise…sunrise, bird noises—nice! Had hits right at the
beginning, then when the sun really came out (still waters,
beautiful), no bites—packed it in and back for a trout breakfast
with a potatoes/ham mix. Discovered we forgot eggs…and salt…and
pepper…and garlic powder…how did THAT happen? We’ll need to
make a trip to Burns sometime.
We decided to go to Crystal Hot Springs
in Crane to celebrate our 15 years of marriage and it was GREAT
weather—beautiful…and it felt sooooo good! We came out very
relaxed, listened to our book and headed back through Burns to pick
up our forgotten items.
And then the weather began to turn. By
the time we got back to Chicahominy, it was pelting rain and the
strong winds were really shaking the trailer (Shoppie’s under the
covers!!)… Chris was even contemplating getting the truck
maneuvered over to the side of the trailer in case the wind tried to
blow it over, that’s how strong it was (stronger than we’ve ever
experienced before).
We did the only thing to do in such an
event—napped and holed up with the cat, and things were back to
fairly calm again by about 7:00 that evening. We celebrated by
having dessert, watching Jeopardy, and then a movie. Whew!
Fri., 4/18/14
Up an’ at ‘em fishing! Yipes, it’s
cold—but the wind isn’t bad at least! I’ve promised Chris I’ll
leap out of the truck if there’s action to film but otherwise I’m
“truckin’” it. It all looks pretty from the inside of the
truck…Chris joined me saying, “Yes, it’s quite chilly out
there!” and noted that the fishing doesn’t look as red hot out
there (which in my mind means fewer trips out into the cold—score!).
Back for breakfast—Mexican omelets
and hot cakes—yum!—and then took off for a beautiful back-roads
drive to Yellowjacket Lake. Cool mountain air and beautiful
day…Chris and I caught some trout and dug into our snacks (nuts,
granola bars).
Onward to check on Delintment Lake—had
the place to ourselves and weather was still good (got some neat
shots of Ruddy ducks) but fishing was poor—time to head back for
some evening fishing at Chicahominy, dinner, and turn-in (Shoppie’s
favorite time—her purr motor increases in volume whenever we all
hit the bed).
Sat., 4/19/14
Chris is up an at ‘em again at the
crack of whatever-it-is-when-it’s-still-dark, and I stayed behind
to stretch and shower. He returned having had no luck (only 1 bite)
fishing 3 spots…and we decided to take a drive to Mann Lake and
listen to our book—another excuse to enjoy that.
Don’t know how we lucked out with the
weather this year but we’ll take it! Another beauty today that
held into fishing/lunch at Mann Lake. Gorgeous and slight
breeze…they’re expecting rains to come later but we’re really
enjoying this as we get it! Only bad spell so far really was that
one windy afternoon that shook the trailer and impressed the cat.
Lots of antelope sitings on the way here—plenty of boys mixed in
with the girls…
Since he hadn’t thrown his waders
into the truck when we took off for this day trip, Chris just took
his shoes off and waded right into Mann so that he could properly
pursue those trout. His feet were bare, his pants were soaked, and
he was ecstatic to be catching so many big beautiful trout.
Okay, I jinxed our good fortune by
writing that last bit about the calm day and gorgeous weather…the
wind picked up fiercely and blew everything over…couldn’t leave
the camera tripod up anymore—everything stayed down then was
quickly raised up—and sturdily held onto!—to film when Chris got
a bite. He caught so many big fish at Mann, he tentatively decided
to move camp there since Chicahominy wasn’t much of a “catch”
these days…
Sun., 4/20/14
We’re celebrating Easter by enjoying
the simple life back here at Chicahominy—and reveling in all that
we can do without, and still enjoy life…we like that message!
Chris was up and out fishing early…I
went through my routines here and enjoyed the quiet peace. We kept
pondering whether or not to move to Mann Lake, knowing that the
weather can create a “bust” there if it wants to…we had such a
great window there yesterday… Chris took the plunge, called his
buddies Steve Biddinger and Steve Fossholm to let them know that Mann
Lake was the preferred spot to meet/fish this year (they would be
joining us Monday).
Indeed—we packed up and headed to
beautiful Mann Lake tucked in front of the amazing Steens Mountain.
Easy to have superlatives on such a beautiful day…wow!
This time, Chris is wading into Mann
all “civilized”—with actual waders…although, he discovered
his waders have one of those annoying slow leaks (meaning, throw them
away) that actually got him just as wet as the barefoot-with-jeans
get up, especially when his foot got stuck in some mud and he tipped
over—ugh!. The fish aren’t as hot as yesterday which means maybe
I’ll actually get some of my book read. Sweet—well, for ME.
Mon., 4/21/14
Chris did his usual early morning
casting about, we ate a (big, huge) breakfast and headed up a hill to
explore a wind-protected canyon behind it for Indian artifacts, or
any other artifacts of note/interest. Nothing major to report but it
was a heck of a hike (hills from below are a lot tamer-looking than
when you actually climb them!). We got back to camp about 3-1/2
hours later in time to shower and nap before the gang (Steve B.,
Steve F. and his wife Lori) arrived. Chris spotted them coming into
camp and we excitedly swept and straightened for “company”. Once
they got here, the weather shifted (wind blowing), once again
impressing Lori who had previously banned Mann Lake from their list
of places to go because of a horrific wind storm they had endured.
Our arrivals got their camps set up,
did some fishing, and Chris threw together a spaghetti feed which we
ate before watching our Alaska 2013 video. The Steves then got us
rousted up to go to the Alvord Hot Springs, about 20 miles down the
road, for a possible night-time soak.
This turned out to be a great idea but
ended up being an exercise in trying on our swim suits and taking a
nice after-dinner drive. The usual
driving-in-the-dark-on-desert-roads challenges ensued, one of which
was getting cows off of the road. Evidently, they’re quite “taken”
with headlights and have a harder time moving than their
deer-in-the-headlights friends…it becomes quite a stalemate as car
and cows appear to stare each other down, neither willing to budge.
Call it happiness to be here, call it beer consumption, but Steve F.
was able to turn “calf wrestling” into an actual sport in order
to clear our way.
The search for the Hot Springs also had
some extra challenges and adventure attached to it (aforementioned
beer-consumption helping), but the Hot Springs had evidently changed
mightily since the Fossholms had last been there and so spotting them
presented problems, especially at night. There were lots of
declarations like, “Oh, it’s right at the next dim house light
there…” and “There has to be a place on the right side of the
road to pull out and park…” and “Oh, it looked just like this;
we’re getting close…” and, repeated several times, “Okay,
it’s around this next corner, yeah, for sure…”
The 4 of us who were evidently the
seniors in the group (Steve B., Chris, me, Lori) were getting
increasingly tired and ready to go back and turn in…but Steve F.
was determined to make it to the hot springs, declaring his
“younger-than-everyone-else” status and bopping to music while he
insisted that we’d be seeing the hot springs any moment.
I got rather excited when I thought we
had reached that moment. It happened when I saw a sign that said
“Alvord Hot Springs” at a driveway we were passing. I shouted in
exultation at seeing the sign only to be told, “Oh no, that can’t
be it. It doesn’t look anything like this—it’s closer to the
road.” And so we passed that and kept up the “…around this
next corner…” mantra until Steve B. (driver) finally called a
halt to it and turned us around. Upon heading back (complete with
more calf wrestling moments), we all decided to explore this
mysterious “Alvord Hot Springs” sign and lo and behold it turned
out to be the Alvord Hot Springs. The hot springs had had some
upgrades since the Fossholms last visited ($5 a head now…wooden
planks to walk to the springs (not as rustic as they remembered it
from 6 years ago)). We decided against plunking down the money to
join other people who were obviously already there, and headed back
to camp, thanking Steve B. for the ride, and turning in.
Tues., 4/22/14
After a verrrry windy night, the
morning proved calm enough for Mr. Preuitt to sneak out and back in
with 2 nice trout (19”) by 6:00 a.m. I was thinking he was just
getting up to GO fishing when I saw him cleaning the fish—whew!
He went back out to film the Steves
fishing and I got myself up and dressed and decided to go film
pelicans. There’s an obvious “island” where they hang out (we
call it “Pelican Island”) on Mann Lake but it’s too far from
where we’re camped to get decent shots, so I headed around the lake
to get closer to it/them. It turned out to be a great window of
opportunity for that. I was able to walk to the other side, get to
shore and get some good shots. I kept anticipating that they were
going to get spooked and took lots of film from wherever I was,
thinking it was my last chance, but most all of them (I decided there
were a total of 10 to 12 of them) stayed put and “preened” for
me—fun!
Finally, since the wind had started to
pick up again, I headed back and got back in time for a big
storm—wind, snow—got a taste of everything! Chris and I passed
the time playing cribbage, watching a movie, and checking out our own
film from today. We then took a nap and woke to calm and sun, so
Chris took off to fish. Hearing the wind begin to pick up again, I
opted to stay on board with Shoppie and read my book.
Dinner was great—we supped on Steve
and Lori’s camper and she made an incredible meal of turkey breast,
mashed potatoes & gravy, and salad (a special treat for Chris and
me as we had somehow left our extra veggies behind in Salem). Time
to turn in…
Wed., 4/23/14
Chris was up and excited—calm waters
and the sun’s out—he got some film of an incredible morning sky
(he said the sunrise was even better but he didn’t have the camera
then). Don’t know what the day brings…
Well—the Steves started building a
fire and Chris and I headed down to Pelican Island for
fishing/filming—turned into a 4-hour walk around all of Mann Lake,
complete with fishing stops, quick-sand mud crossings, arrowhead
flake-findings, and more Pelican viewing at their OTHER spot across
the lake. Fishing was hot over there so I practically had to
dynamite Chris out of a couple of spots.
We were tired when we returned and
immediately fell into some naps…then up for some dinner and Blazer
game watching (Steve B. provided dinner of sausage hot dogs and we
provided accommodations (TV/Satellite, especially important for the
Blazer game!). Time once again to turn in…
Thur., 4/24/14
Opening day at Krumbo is coming up, so
it’s time to shuffle around and get stuff ready. Chris did his
usual early -morning fishing and I started throwing clothes together
(we planned to do laundry and showers at the Narrows—yay!).
Another thing that kept me busy this morning: I about went blind
trying to use my cheap sewing kit on the tear in my pants (another
casualty from yesterday’s walk around the lake—we crossed over
some barbed wire and the camera/leg balancing act didn’t work so
well for me in that process).
The guys stood around the fire and
jawed, decided to stay one more day—then they went fishing at the
point and Lori and I took over “fire-tending”. It felt really
nice to be able to enjoy the scenery and stay warm! The fisher guys
took a break for breakfast and then went back at it after…Lori and
I both filmed while they fished. The wind picked up and then we all
took a break. I ended up reading, cleaning up the trailer, then
reading and falling asleep while Chris rousted the guys for one last
fishing assault. The wind picked up big time and rain started to
come down. Chris and I ate up our chicken (barbecued it), and fish
(had that as the h’orderves), with rice and the rest of our cooked
pasta mixed together. Oh yeah…and fudge with crackers. The diet
is SO GONE. Chris showered then fell asleep pretty fast and I
finished the book story we were on…then turned in.
Fri., 4/25/14
Can you say MUD? Wow…the rain made a
nice slurry all about—walking around at ALL and your shoes became
like cement blocks. After breakfast and a shower (mine), we started
packing up. Steve B. took off early (we heard him honk goodbye while
we ate breakfast), and Chris told me not to come out unless I
absolutely had to (good advice!) as he did outside preps and I did
the inside cleanup and battening down for travel. I went ahead and
gave Shoppie her drug (1/2 sedative pill the vets gave us) so she
wouldn’t stress with all of the weather and our laundry stop.
Chris got her loaded (pun and non-pun) onto the truck, along with our
other truck stuff that I handed to him, then it was my turn to turn
my extra slip-on pair of shoes into blocks of mud.
Onward we go to the Narrows to gas up
and do laundry, dump, and fill up with fresh water. We arrived at
Page Springs, set up and took a drive with Lori and Steve (they had
decided to camp at Page Springs before heading back to Salem) on our
favorite patrol road. Not much in the way of wildlife at that time,
but we stopped at the P French ranch and took pictures there before
returning to camp for supper then bed (opening day at Krumbo means
earrrrrrlyyyyy tomorrow).
Sat., 4/26/14
Chris was up before the 4:15 alarm and
ready to gooooo. I froze after the first 1-1/2 hours and headed back
to warm up in the truck. Steve and Lori arrived—Steve headed down
to fish with Chris and Lori, bless her, got me up on their camper,
turned their heat up and we sat and jawed while I finished thawing
out. Then she and I ventured out to the rocks where there was not
much action to report (Chris said they did have some “action”
when he splashed his hand in the water so the fisher folks around the
corner from them would get excited that someone had caught a
fish—ha-ha!). Lori then managed to catch the biggest fish and we
had 3 keepers by 9:00. I “weenied” out at one point to warm up
on the truck. Fishing picked up but was still chilling me to the
bone (mind you, I had 4 layers plus a coat on top, my warm hat, warm
gloves, 3 pairs of socks and long underwear plus jeans on my legs).
Chris was amazed by this, saying, “Wow, it just feels like a nice
day out here to me!” Uhf! After catching a fair haul, Steve and
Lori took off for home in Salem (I waved longingly at them as they
climbed in their cab and turned on their heat).
Chris and I stayed for a while longer,
packed it in and went to the Narrows to gas up (thinking we didn’t
have a way to use anything but cash in Frenchglen, we were trying to
be extra careful—found out later we could use our card there this
year, but it was a good excuse for a drive!). At the Narrows, we had
the “sleepies” and a snack attack, so we picked up some goodies
(some really bad goodies), drove to the refuge headquarters pond, and
ate while listening to our book and bird watching, then fell asleep.
Drove back home for supper, movie, showers, and bed (with our usual
falling-asleep-to-audio-book routine).
Sun., 4/27/14
It didn’t snow as predicted by
someone at Krumbo yesterday, but it’s cold and wet. We’re
slumbering around this morning—not in a hurry—drinking coffee/tea
and lying in bed.
We played cribbage and made a trip into
Frenchglen to pick up a couple of pops and cookies (have I said yet
how OVER our diet is?) while the weather continued to scream “stay
inside”—we huddled up while the hail and rain continued, watched
on DVD some of our latest favorite—a British comedy called “Piglet
Files” and played some more cribbage. Chris was beating me pretty
soundly, so I kept upping the ante—“how about best of 3? Best of
5? Best of 7?” to no avail until we discovered a king that was
still in the box—whoops! Null & void—start over—and we
tied up the odds—ha-ha!!
The weather finally picked up and we
got for a neat drive along the Patrol Road—filmed pheasants, some
deer, a bunch of neat birds…then decided to take a walk to
“Grandfather Lake” up along the Steens Mountain Road. It was a
nifty little place but the winds made the water murky and no fish
were caught. The wind picked up and we headed back into a
threatening cloud (yipes!) but we made it back to the truck and got
home to supper, and more “Piglet Files.”
Mon., 4/28/14
We’re going to give Krumbo a shot
today—without the crowds of opening day. It’s a beautiful
morning—we saw lots of deer on the way in and stopped to film them.
Looking forward to what the day brings!
Gorgeous weather continued, and we had
the place pretty much to ourselves—fishing was not great but it
didn’t matter too much! We stayed and ended up with 3 large trout
anyway to take home. I got to read my book and enjoyed the peace,
the sun, the bird sounds, and the quiet. We had some fun little
“scavenger hunts” with things Chris was looking for—the best
one was his fish rag that ended up on top of some sage brush up on
the hill above us—some feisty sage brush that evidently
“pick-pocketed” him without his even knowing—hmmmm!! Took the
Frenchglen way home and stopped to get ice cream bars and brownie
mix—yummm (not even mentioning the diet at this point in time)!!
When we got back, Chris realized he
didn’t have his knife so back we went to Krumbo via Patrol Road
where we saw lots of great things to film—antelope, deer, sandhill
cranes, avocets, pheasants, ducks, and a swan—then yours truly
found the knife which was wedged between 2 rocks at Krumbo—success!!
I made some calls back East to family (Krumbo road has a “sweet
spot” with better cell service) and then we headed back via Patrol
Road again (it’s kind of addictive!). We had a great egret filming
opportunity—fun! Got back to showers, brownies, news and
Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune, and then watching our own film from today
with supper (trout, steak, veggies)—DIET stands for “Double
Intake, Eat This” I think…
Our plan for tomorrow is to head up to
a secret spot which is about 35 miles north of Burns, revealed to us
by some guys from Eugene who were fly fishing at Krumbo. Our excited
anticipation was dampened only by the very unattractive-sounding name
of the place: “Poison Creek Reservoir”. Hmmmmm. We’ll pack
up and camp there, and then will be in a perfect place to take a very
scenic way back home…
Tues., 4/29/14
Lounged around this morning—got back
under the covers with coffee and listened to our book for a while,
but then Chris couldn’t stand it any longer and by 7:00 a.m. said,
“Let’s get this day started!” Got some breakfast (pancakes
with peaches and egg on the side), packed up our stuff and headed to
Burns for a quick gas-up and dump stop…and a grocery store stop,
and a stop to pick up some more fish hooks.
Had a nice drive up the road and found
the secret spot—we had it all to ourselves and the bird-watching
was particularly fun. Fishing, not so hot… But I figure once
again I’ve got more book-reading time (yay!).
Got all relaxed and had to go back to
the trailer to take a nap. We woke up and took a walk ‘around the
lake’—which turned into a side excursion to see the tons of deer
that Chris spotted on the hillsides behind the lake—there were a
LOT of deer! There were also some very entertaining yellow-headed
black birds with quite the brassy song! Got back to camp by sunset
and had our Krumbo trout dinner—nice! Watched an Anthony Hopkins
movie with dinner—mmmm!! Going to sleep with another book on tape.
Nice.
Wed., 4/30/14
Happy Birthday to
me and Happy 15 years of marriage to us (almost 20 years together
now—we started dating 19 years ago). We’re taking it slow and
laid back this morning—decided to go look for arrowheads at a “hot
spot” we saw on the way back yesterday. But first, Chris wanted to
bait up his lines one last time to see if there’s any early morning
action (that would be an eventual “nope!”). I went ahead and
read for a while as he performed this experiment—woo-hoo!!
We got out for a long walk-about
looking for arrowheads, or artifacts everywhere. Got back and fell
into naps with our book then took showers and tinkered with our
“finds”, more reading… Dinner’s my favorite mac ‘n’
cheese for my bday and Chris also gave me a 2-1/2 hour foot rub,
wonderfully relaxing while we watched a movie—yes! Our hot springs
was our anniversary present but I figure probably showering for each
other, after a few days without, ranks right up there too.
We turned in after a perfect last day
before heading back home tomorrow.
Thur., 5/1/14
We had a beautiful ride home and
stopped in Prineville on the way to take advantage of their
super-duper car wash (they have catwalks and ladders for ease of
trailer-washing) and for one last eating blow-out (double
cheeseburgers and fries—yum!).
We definitely love this way of
travel—no hurries, no worries…making plans as we go, as we want.
Even Shoppie seems to love it (the trailer part and the drugs
part—seems pretty happy/content to sleep off our ride).
We spent a good part of our trip back
to Salem discussing what our next adventure might be.
