Middle Fork John Day River

Middle Fork John Day River

Last weekend William and I took off in the camper for a couple of nights.  It was good to spend some time on the road with the boy and reconnect a little.  We ended up camping at Pine Mountain one night and along the Middle Fork John Day River the next.  I had not been back to the Middle Fork in twenty years, not since my graduate school days.  I regret not holding more firmly to my dream of studying the restoration potential of that river for my thesis project. I wanted to see what has happened out there in the last two decades.  It was heartening to see that restoration is happening and the river is in better shape then it was.  Also frustrating to see how poorly many of the ranches are treating that river.  The contrast between restored, carefully grazed reaches and the lower reaches where grazing is not well managed is stark.  I hope some day that these ranchers age out and are replaced by more competent land managers.

A whirlpool - it remained in place for two days!

The larch are starting to turn