Mann Lake, Oregon--and other Eastern Oregon Stops, 2016
When Mother Nature has
her own ideas...
We've been at
this “getting-out-in-nature” stuff long enough to know better than to have
expectations. Here's what we DO count
on: (1) some kind of adventure; (2) some
kind of get-away; and (3) some kind of spiritual humbling to make us more aware
of what's important in life. Check,
check, double-check!!
Days
1-3 (April 19-21)
As “usual” as anything can be, our journey to Mann was that...audio books to keep us company while driving...the relaxation that comes with being committed to any trip (too late to worry about what you forgot—you're on the road!) and the excitement of not knowing exactly what might be in store for us. We had a smooth trip over, no major hiccups, and spent the first night at Chicahominy. The lake was really low due to drought conditions of the past 2 years, so no fish to be found for Chris—it was just a stop. The following day found us at Crane Hot Springs, to grab a soak before heading onto Mann to set up camp.
The weather
was absolutely beautiful when we arrived and we stayed on the east side for a
change since the west side was populated with not just people and campsites but
resident cows as well!
We got set up,
took a nap, met neighbor Kevin who was here from Idaho, and then took a walk to
the south end where Chris fished and caught 2 nice big ones for his dad Bill,
who had sent us off with the challenge of catching him a couple of Mann Lake
trout—check! I filmed and read...a very
nice way to end the day...
Old Dogs, New Tricks, No
Instructions...!
Bill had also
sent us off with his personal vacuum packer so we could preserve the fish
properly until we got back to deliver them to him. Simple.
No problemo. Bill didn't have the
instructions but we had used vacuum packers before, so how hard could it be?
Nothing is
funnier than 2 geezers in the wilds trying to operate unfamiliar machinery. Surely an audience would have made it even
funnier, but we entertained ourselves enough trying to figure it out (Which way
does it go? Where does the roll go? Where does the roll feed into this thing?). We were frustrated and cursing the thing at
first, then lo and behold something finally “took” (not sure what or how) and
we were off and running, laughing our butts off. Ah, the cheap thrills of idiocy! Turns out, based on our prior experience, we
were actually making it harder than it actually was. Typical.
Why I Love Pontoon Boating
(Admission
Is The First Step...)
Day 3 was a
gorgeous morning and we decided to get our pontoon boats out on the lake. For those who don't know me well, let me just
say that I'm not the most graceful person, especially in the great
outdoors. I tend to be a bit clumsy and,
well...accident prone. In fact, I've
accomplished so much in this area, I've decided to start up a 12-step program
for accident prone people (“Hi, my name is Darcie and I'm accident prone. It has been 2 hours since my last accident
when I jammed my toe trying to answer the phone...”), so we'll see if there's
hope for improvement on that score.
Suffice it to
say that there are few outdoor sports that really interest me since many might
require a trip to the doctor on my part.
Thankfully, there's one thing I can do that doesn't appear to do any
damage to me whatsoever: pontoon
boating!! We spent all morning out on
the lake and the Steens mountain scenery was incredible.
Chris' buddy
Steve B. showed up that afternoon, and the 2 of them got into some heavy-duty
fishing. I did some filming of them from camp while testing out my new bug
repellent, a non-toxic wrist band. Mosquitoes always find and torture me and
I've found few things that work besides the dreaded Deet spray, so I was
excited to try this new “invention”. And
so were the mosquitoes. I had this
terrific idea that I would watch the pests as they whiffed the repellent and
flew off—watch the effectiveness in action as it were—bring it on! But what I actually watched was one bite me
on the same arm that the wrist band was on...cross another one off the
list! My desire to repel them might have
been like some kind of foreshadowing for what happened to us the following
day...
Apr
22-25
Some winds
during the night made us skeptical about our chances at getting out on the lake
today but Chris was up and out at 5:30 anyway, battling the wind to get at the
fish. At about 7:00, the winds had died
down enough for me to give the pontoon another try and it was sweeeeeet! I did a little bit of
pelican-watching/filming, and then had a great drift/read—letting the boat go
where it wanted while I read my book.
What an excellent way to experience Mann Lake, I was thinking!!
After about 2
hours out, the winds started to pick up (the pontoon was banging me around on
the banks in pretty short order), so I came on back and we decided to load the
pontoons back up onto the truck. Mann
Lake winds were showing signs of “having their way with us”.
There were
some “teasers” of calm periods as the light faded, but then the winds came back
with a vengeance!
Shoppie the Wind-O-Meter
You can
usually tell how frightening the weather is outside of our trailer by Shoppie's
behavior. This time, when she wasn't
squished into the back of her carrier, big eyes staring out, she glued herself
under the covers between us.
The wind got
so bad that we had to bring in our slide-out extension because it sounded like
it was about to get ripped to shreds and sent off into where Dorothy was
spinning inside the twister in her bed screaming, “There’s no place like
home! There’s no place like home!” Then Chris got out our old camera (in case
the 60-mile-an-hour winds took off with it, he wanted to use one we wouldn't
miss as much) and shot footage so we could remember this excitement.
Shoppie
actually got used to the wind at some point (not sure when), but sometime in
the early morning she was laying on top of us and “going-with-the-flow” as the
wind violently shook our trailer back and forth...Chris called her the
“Bobble-Head” and we couldn't stop laughing every time it shook and she just
wobbled back and forth, looking at us for all the world like she was saying,
“Okay, REALLY?” She was a master of the
storm after a while...piece of cake!
Toughing it Out...
Our other
camping friends, Steve F. and his wife Lori, arrived that afternoon, and set up
camp—we did a group Mexican meal that night on our trailer and watched a movie
with some homemade popcorn Steve F. did up—when Mother Nature throws stuff at
us, this is how we rough it, yes indeed.
The next day went as follows:
1.
Boys
attempted fishing (muddy waters—no luck)
2.
Lori
and I chatted, walked, read
3.
Group
dinner (Steve B on burgers and pasta salad—great stuff!)
4. Movies
And all of
this was followed by another violent windy overnight. Steve B. left to head back to Salem before
any of us got up (his pop-up camper really took a beating), and the rest of us
got up in the snow/wind and intense cold to get the heck outta there. We were on the road by 7:00 a.m.
April 26 and Beyond
Change of Scenery, Change of Pace
 |
| Steve F. modeling "relaxed fishing" technique at Krumbo |
 |
| Two of about 50 antelope we saw on the way to Krumbo |
We decided to
stop at our old friend, Page Springs campground, and hit some beautiful weather
and decent fishing at Krumbo Reservoir.
We also took some pleasant walks, did some neat wild horse-viewing, and
ran into some beautiful mule deer bucks as well, along with all the “usual” wildlife
that sometimes become commonplace (oh, another antelope!) but nevertheless
still makes you gasp at their beauty.
 |
| Chris catching a good one at Krumbo |
 |
| Mule Deer Buck near Page Springs |
 |
| Chris, Lori, and Steve spy on the wild horses |
 |
| Wild horses on the hill above us |
 |
| Lori catching the first of several bigger ones there at Krumbo |
After a
couple of days, we opted to have breakfast at Krumbo after one last fishing
session at Krumbo (where Lori out fished everyone—way to go!) and take off from
there. Steve and Lori headed on to their next destination in Central Oregon and
Chris and I headed back towards Salem, stopping to “re-group” and enjoy Detroit
Lake for what it had to offer.
So, yes, the
trip was probably not what any of us had hoped for in terms of the number of
relaxing days and great weather, but our adventure once again left us in awe of
our surroundings and the powerlessness of life itself. That certainly makes it all worth it in the
end!
