Tag: spring

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Stream Time

Help with the waders?

This week marked the Vernal Equinox.

The official beginning of spring.  Equal parts day and night  .  .  .   and it actually began with some very spring-like days.

Though, we are under no illusion that this will last.

A perfect day in the Deschutes River Canyon

In the high desert there is this time between the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

The mountains are still capped with snow, but the days get shirt-sleeve warm. The lakes hold on to winter’s ice and streams have yet to swell with runoff. The conditions are ideal for a picnic in the canyon.

Wetting a line in the Crooked River

A couple trips to the rivers in late March, ahead of last minute ice storms are always in our plan. We set up the camp chairs along the stream and bask in spring sunshine.

Now that … is basking.

The melt is coming.  The mornings are still frosty and there will be some rainy days.

Couldn’t ask for a better day

For the next week or two we’ll take advantage of this typical Central Oregon start to spring.

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Waiting on Spring

A wind advisory (gusts of 85 mph) for Summer Lake killed any plans to visit the wildlife refuge.

All the signs point to the start of spring. However, the weather or rather the constant changes in the weather continue to upset our plans.

During the last few weeks we woke to snow three times and daily temps in or near 60º twice. That’s in one ten day stretch.

Winter keeps a grudging hold on us as Spring taunts us from the sidelines. We’ve managed to get on the river a couple of times during those warmer days. But each morning it’s a new forecast and shifts the day’s travel plans.

All winter the snows have been frequent but rarely more than a couple of inches and have always melted away in a week’s time, or less.

Past winters have seen a foot or more of snow sticking for weeks, but not this year. That may be why it’s so frustrating to plan a road trip.  Destination set and then you wake to iced roads or the threat of a snow dump. For some reason the weather people are having a hard time forecasting more than a day or two in advance.

Smith Rock near Terrabonne, Oregon

Saturday (3/20/21) was officially the start of Spring and for now that’s reflected in the forecasts. We continue to add locations to our itinerary and pack for a variety of weather … that’s just Central Oregon … but it has been a slow  month as occasional sunny days hint at the potential for a real winter thaw.