Deschutes River, last morning

June, 2024

I’ll be hitching up and heading home this morning. I don’t want to go!

So instead of hitching up, I found a few other things to see this morning before getting the trailer rigged and then heading out. I do need to be out of the campground by noon, but there’s plenty of time to do just a bit more exploration this morning, right? Why hurry when there’s no point in hurrying and worrying? 🙂 There’s more exploring to do!

So here’s what I did. The image below shows the Deschutes River coming from the south and emptying into the Columbia River. You can see the road and rail bridges that cross the Deschutes just as it empties into the Columbia. The RED DOT on the right is where Towhee the Trailer is camped. The RED STAR on the left is where I stood this morning to take photos (and one video) while looking back across the Deschutes at the campground. The RED ARROW points to a large boat ramp on the Deschutes.

Ok, let’s go see what I saw.

In the photo below, I had driven around to the west side of the Deschutes (to the red star position) and am looking directly back at the campground across the Deschutes. I was hoping I might catch a glimpse of Towhee the Trailer, but it looks like there are too many trees. Sure is pretty though.

I zoomed in closer with the camera, to the right of those tall trees, nope no Towhee.

Then a little further to the left, nope, no Towhee.

Then I zoomed in more amongst those tall trees, nope no … wait a minute! Ok, I might see something!

Ah ha, yes! Zooming in even more (below). You can ignore the white truck in the front, that’s not my truck. But right behind that white truck, you can see a travel trailer with a spare tire on the back of it … a spare tire that has a black cover and a red Canadian Maple Leaf on it … which belongs to a lovely travel trailer made in Canada … yep, that’s Towhee the Trailer!

That was fun. 🙂

Then I took a video with my camera. You’ll hear the road noise from the big four-lane I-84 just past the local road. But you’ll also hear the birds. And you’ll see a bit of Moody Island in the middle of Deschutes River that is home to many, many birds. And then you’ll see the boat launch area.

So, boats and trucks. That piqued my interest. 🙂 Turns out there was a group of people just loading up to take a raft trip down a portion of the Columbia River. I knew this was a common haul-out area for raft trips coming down the Deschutes, over the rapids of the Deschutes, that would then haul-out here at this boat launch area. But I didn’t realize there were raft trips that started here and then went out onto the Columbia.

 

 

All of this gear would be loaded into the pickup trucks and driven to each night’s destination. This reminded me of a couple of river rafting trips I’ve taken and enjoyed. Great adventures.

I chatted a bit with one of the trip leaders, but not long. She was willing to chat, but I knew she was busy … and she didn’t argue when I thanked her and then I moved along.

Even after that little outing across the Deschutes River, I still had extra time this morning. There were many things I saw on this camping trip that were new to me, or that particularly enthralled me … one of them was seeing truly magnificent mountains every day that I was here … Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens in Washington on the drive down, and Mt. Adams (Washington) and Mt. Hood (Oregon) during my stay here in Oregon. Mt. Hood wasn’t that far away from where I was. I decided to take a drive and get closer if I could. Take a look!

I drove west a bit from the campground, back into the green trees of the Cascade Mountains, then I drove south a bit through forests and farm land and was blessed with a perfect day of perfect weather, with the sun behind me to the east, and then this absolutely perfect view of the east side of Mt. Hood. What a majestic mountain.

 

And yes, it too is a volcano, and yes, it too is overdue for eruption, yikes.

That was super. I sure want to come back and see more of Mt. Hood. But now it’s definitely time to head back to the campground and get that trailer hitched up then head home.

 

I tidied up, hitched up, got everything double-triple checked and off I went towards home.

On my drive west along the Columbia River with the trailer in tow, I had one more mountain view … this time of Mt. Adams in Washington to the north.

 

So much to see here in the Pacific Northwest, and so little time! 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this trip to the Deschutes River in Oregon. I sure did. It’s on my list for a return trip, including one entire day to drive the canyon road south right along the Deschutes River. And take a raft trip down the Deschutes! Stay tuned. 🙂