I've been going stir-crazy being cooped up in the house for a few blustery, snowy days and missing my exercise. I finally decided come hell or high water that I was going to take a walk along the Deschutes River, my usual roughly 6-mile loop.
The only issue really was that the ambient temperature was the coldest it has been this winter, the thermometer standing at 5F. That, coupled with a gentle 5 mph northerly breeze brought the wind chill to about -5F.
I bundled up in two layers on the bottom, four layers on the top, gloves, and beanie, shoved my microspikes into the pocket of my shell, and headed out the back door. Three steps onto the alley had me returning to the back stairs to don the microspikes, it being too icy to walk without traction devices. As an aside, if Kahtoola ever needs a shill for their spikes, I'm the guy. These things are lifesavers and far superior to anything else on the market.
I was cold for the first half hour, but not terribly so, on the downstream leg of my walk into the gentle but noticeable northerly breeze. It spit snow constantly for the duration of my walk, but never enough to put my hood up. I always like to start my walks cold because as I get going, I start generating heat and I don't really like to stop for layer breaks, especially when it is frigid. [Ann's trail name: Layer Break. Go figure.]
In any case, even at a wind chill of -5F, it was positively balmy when compared to our recent foray to the top of Pike's Peak in 40 mph winds. By the halfway point when I turned around and headed south back upstream with the breeze at my back, I had warmed up sufficiently to unzip my shell and down vest enough to get to my phone, and enough to remove one of my gloves so that I could work the phone to take pictures. I should have brought my big camera: the scenery was stunningly beautiful.
I had the delightful walk along the river practically to myself. All day, I saw six other walkers and one runner, all shod in spikes for traction on the terribly icy trail. I want to say that because of the solitude it was super quiet as well, but the constant crunching of my spikes in the ice made it difficult to hear subtle sounds and made it sound to my ears like I was marching with an army.
The not-so-subtle calls of some birds got through just fine, however, and I was surprised at the number of birds I saw. While the Ospreys have gone south for the winter, Bald Eagles have replaced them along this stretch of the river and I saw one several times, maybe the same bird. One was perched atop a Ponderosa Pine watching me as I photographed the snag where the ospreys nest each spring.
Though I saw no Steller's Jays, the usual jays along this part of the river, I did see and hear several raucous California Scrub Jays. Notably silent however, for a very vocal bird, was a large female Belted Kingfisher flying directly down the canyon, ten feet off the water. Ravens added to the ambient noise with their nasally harsh squawks.
Smaller birds were pretty much in hiding, but I did see Pygmy Nuthatches and Oregon Juncos. I heard but did not see Mountain Chickadees and Cedar Waxwings. The waxwings were no doubt competing with the vocal American Robins for any leftover fruit that they could scavenge.
On the water, I saw some old winter friends from back East, a group of about 8 Ring-billed Gulls standing about a rock in the middle of the river. They are a common winter visitor inland, but I had not expected to see them here in Central Oregon.
In the river swam a few Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Mallards, and in a bit of a surprise, a flock of Canada Geese. The geese usually stay in the calm, shallow waters north of the Reed Market Bridge, but as that stretch of river is currently frozen over, they have pushed south of the bridge into the open water just below the last set of rapids below the canyon.
All in all, a great walk by the river on a spectacularly beautiful, if chilly, day.
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| Ponderosa Pine Needles |
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| Riverside Alder and Western Juniper |
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| Still Life with Ponderosa Pines |
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| Douglas' Squirrel Trying to Stay Warm |
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| Ring-Billed Gulls (center) on a Rock |
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| Ponderosa Pines Looking Like Cinnamon Sticks |
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| Osprey Nest in Ponderosa Snag |
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| Lodgepole Pine in Snow |
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| Green-Leaf Manzanita, a Little Color on a Gray Day |
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| It Rarely Gets This Cold |
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