On June 25th and 26th members and friends from Deschutes Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) tackled the long dirt roads of the Ochocos to explore the Deep Creek restoration area and the wild canyon of the North Fork of the Crooked River.  The North Fork of the Crooked watershed in ONF and the Bureau of Land Management is a wild and scenic section of river with 11.1 miles of the lower canyon designated as Wild.  As the canyon flattens out and turned into a wider floodplain and into the prairies, there are 9.5 designated as Scenic and 11.7 as Recreational  The ONF contains healthy populations of wild redband rainbow trout and is an important source of cold water; in a region with exposed warm stretches of streams and sections of degraded habitat.  This rugged area has a mix of scablands, lush green canyons, mixed ponderosa and tamarack forests, and lots to great small trout habitat. 
 

Our adventure started at the Deep Creek campground just upstream of the confluence of Deep Creek and the North Fork.  Our trip had 3 goals:  1.  Study the temperature in the lower Deep Creek system, from the confluence with the North Fork into upper Jackson and Crazy Creeks, 2.  Learn about management practices and riparian monitoring through multiple indicators, 3.  Explore conditions today and discuss restoration work with the Forest Service to reconnect habitat in the Deep Creek basin.  Our group was also excited to check out the amazing display of wildflowers, new sections for fishing, and enjoy one of our first nice weekends this summer.  Through 200 miles of twisting high desert roads, trails, and wild country, we traced the water from a trickle in mountain meadows to the pounding falls of the North Fork canyon.  Through green meadows, flowers, and glides, we discovered the Ochocos are pretty spectacular this year.
 

Our afternoon was a nice mix of exploring creek habitat and tributaries on the way to Crazy Creek.  It felt good to park the car and just go walking in the woods, meadows, and seeing the headwaters build as we walked downstream.  We spent the late afternoon looking at the differences in habitat from the protected lower creek and the upper meadows which have been grazed for decades.  By discussing and walking through the indicators from the Forest Service’s monitoring protocols, we had a chance to study bank stability, riparian vegetation diversity, stubble height, and channel width and sediment.  We all saw the effects of grazing and considered treatments to improve the water storage and retain the cold temperatures.  We all look forward to future channel work, planting, and fence work to improve management in the upper basin.



 

Our final day of the trip was a full adventure into the dry canyon and scabland country of the Ochocos.  We drove into the backcountry to seek access into the North Fork canyon.  The flowers and views along the way were impressive, helping to break up the dust and bumps of the rugged roads.  In arriving and exploring the canyon, we all were impressed by its wild character and solitude.  We hiked into the canyon to look for fish, snakes, and amphibians.  We found a steep and twisting canyon, with river fords and waterfalls.  We all could have stayed for days and fished up and down through the glides and pools, but the sun, ice cream, and climb out of the canyon was calling our names.  We left a few miles for future exploration.  After another long drive out of the mountains, we followed the Crooked River downstream to Prineville, Tasty Treat, and our peaceful drive into home.  It was a great adventure, and right in our own backyard.
 

Darek Staab


If you would like to see some more photos from this weekend, you can visit our gallery page for this weekend.