That's My World -- Deschutes River

Time once again to share your world! That's My World is hosted each week by Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy and Louise. Click on the title, read the rules, sign up and enjoy the fun!

As many of you know I lived in Oregon before moving to Seattle two years ago, so I still consider both Oregon and Washington as my world. Three years ago I saw a very interesting trip listed at the local senior center -- a water rafting excursion down the Deschutes River. I signed up immediately and it was one of the most exciting, fun, adventurous trips I've ever been fortunate enough to take. Now, because we were all "seniors" we didn't have to do anything but hold on, the oars were handled by two marvelous young men who got us safely down the river. Midway down we stopped, got out of the rafts and had a fabulous lunch, then piled back into the rafts and continued down the river. Including the bus ride to get to Maupin, where we got onto the river, the rafting down the river and back home to Portland took eleven hours. Eleven of the most beautiful, exciting hours of my life! Be sure to click on the photos to embiggen!



It's incredibly beautiful country to begin with, the weather was warm, sunny and fabulous. The river was breathtaking, cold, swift and we were going through Level 2, 3 and 4 rapids. We had wonderful guides and the guys who handled our rafts were incredible! So, today I'm going to share a little of the history of the area and some shots of the Deschutes, the rafts like we used -- all the photos I found through Google as I didn't even own a camera at the time -- my, my how my life has changed! We entered the river from Maupin, a small town located near the river.



The Deschutes River near Maupin where we climbed in the rafts.



This is what our rafts looked like.



Human History
For thousands of years Indian people of the Central Oregon
area have had a tie to the land that has kept their spirituality
intact. The early inhabitants were mobile foragers, hunting
herds of large mammals that grazed the vast tundra
grasslands. Eventually, as the Indian people began to set
up permanent villages, their economy diversified. They
seasonally harvested salmon, waterfowl, culturally
important plants, and constructed more permanent
dwellings. By 1855, increasing pressure from white
settlers resulted in a treaty in which the Indian people of
the Deschutes and John Day Basins ceded much of their
homelands. The lands now known as the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon were reserved for their exclusive
use. Members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
retain the right to fish seasonally along the Deschutes River
as part of their cultural heritage. Today, tribal members can
be seen dip-net fishing below Sherars Falls for large fall
Chinook and steelhead.



White explorers saw the Deschutes River for the first time
on October 22, 1805. Lewis and Clark stopped at the
mouth of the river while exploring the Columbia. They
referred to this tributary of the Columbia River by its
Indian name Towornehiooks. The first white men to
actually explore the Deschutes River were trappers from
the Hudson Bay Company twenty years later. In 1825, a
group of trappers lead by Peter Skene Ogden ascended the
Deschutes from the Columbia River and gave the river the
name that is used today. They referred to the river as the
Rivie‘re Des Chutes, which is French for river of the
falls. Although the area was not settled until years later,
hundreds of settlers crossed the river on the Oregon Trail
as they traveled west to the Willamette Valley to
homestead or headed east to supply miners or graze.