Deschutes

First time on this stretch of the Deschutes (full Buckhollow to Heritage Landing run). Midweek, so I had the place to myself. I I got 7 miles on day 1, and took 4 days overall, which was a very leisurely pace. I stopped often to check out various campsites. Some of the descriptions on the BLM site about 'shady' are way off...maybe trees have died.

I'm a class III/IV boater and the rapids seemed fine in my 14' raft. I scouted from the boat. Colorado III was probably the rowdiest of the bunch, but no problems running it.

I enjoyed a lot of good birding along the way. The Pheasants and Chukkars were out, and all the birds are singing to attract the ladies. I even saw a tom turkey fully strutting his stuff!

Easy hike-in, float-out packraft trip. Nothing much for rapids, maybe 1-2 Class III- at this flow, all easy to avoid.

This was our second year doing this section. We did it in three nights and four days. We put in at noon and took out at noon. Doing this trip in two nights and three days is totally doable but we enjoyed taking our sweet time and spending most of the afternoon at camp with some beverages. Finding campsites was difficult two of the nights, but we still found spots. Most of the rapids are on the last day and are all scoutable from the boat. Of course, you could pull over to scout. The rapids are fun with some big waves. The first few days are super relaxed and booze-cruisy (if that's what you're about) and has some great body floating oppurtunities. The biggest downside to this section of river to me is the road and train track that run parallel to the river. That being said, it's a great mutli-day trip, especially for those nearby!

We took a two-night, three-day trip down the Lower Deschutes on a late July weekend Friday through Sunday. We launched from Buckhollow around noon on Friday and reached the take-out early afternoon on Sunday. Campsite competion was an issue and we had challenges finding a good site near Ferry Canyon on the first night. We made good time on day two and found a nice site at lunch time at river mile 15 below Jet Pump Rapids on river left where we camped for the night. This set us up for a fun day of whitewater on day three. We were floating on a weekend that was open to jet boats but we saw relatively little traffic on the river.

Buck Hollow to Heritage Landing is a mellow section of whitewater that is great for learning and scenic.

Meeting on the river with the Hydropower Reform Coalition.