Deschutes River Trail: Aspen to Lava Island

Yesterday was predicted to be a beautiful day and I had seen reports that some of our local Trumpeter Swans were on the river near Aspen Day Use Area, so I planned to run over there while Ann was in her exercise class. When I told her of my plan, she decided to cancel her class and come with me. I was happy but surprised: the knee that she injured in Italy has been restricting her walking of late.

Though we did not see any swans, it was a beautiful and short walk along the river, first downstream to Lava Island and then back upstream to the truck that we left at Aspen.

Fall Color Near Lava Island

Thanks to a lot of local burning of slash piles and a bit of controlled burning, it was a hazy day and in the morning, we were facing into the sun on the east side of the river. Neither made for great photography, yet it wasn't horrible either. Early in the morning, the cold wind sliced right through our clothes, but it would die back as the day warmed to be pleasant.

Wounded Walker in Action

Rubber Rabbitbrush, Ericameria nauseosa, Stunning in Winter

Woods Roses, Rosa woodsii, and Cattails, Typha latifolia

Color from Lemmon's Willow, Salix lemmonii
I Only Know Which Willow Because I Saw it in Bloom This Year

The local falls for which the Deschutes River (Rivière des Chutes, "River of the Falls" to early French trappers) is named are all artifacts of geologically recent lava flows from the Newberry Volcano complex on the east side of the river. These flows, easily visible from the vantage point of Lava Butte, choked the river at Benham Falls, Dillon Falls, and Lava Island Falls. And near all these falls, the lava is easily visible on the east side of the river.

I have walked this stretch of river many times and have always wondered about a snag (a dead tree) that I see regularly in the lava flow just at the Big Eddy S-turns and rapids. I had always suspected that this snag held an Osprey's nest, but it being several hundred yards away in the middle of the lava flow, I could never tell for certain. On this walk, I brought along my big lens (in hopes of shooting the swans) with enough reach to verify the Osprey nest. Both Ann and I remarked that this is a great location for keeping the nest out of reach of terrestrial predators, namely raccoons.

Osprey Nest at Big Eddy in Middle of Lava

The Deschutes has for a couple centuries been known for its constant water levels, unusual in that most river levels fluctuate significantly. It was not until we erected dams and started siphoning water for irrigation that the water levels showed any significant changes. About October 15 of each year, at the end of the irrigation system, the Bureau of Reclamation restricts water flow from Wickiup Reservoir to refill the reservoir through the winter. And around April 15, they release more water from the dam to support irrigation throughout the growing season. The net effect is that we notice about an 18-inch drop in the water level in the winter.

Super Low Water at Big Eddy

Big Eddy at Low Water in November

Big Eddy at High Water in June

The Mountain Chickadees Were Extremely Noisy and Busy

Female Belted Kingfisher Surveying River
In a Twist, the Females are More Colorful Than the Males

In approaching Lava Island, we veered inland on a user (mountain bike) trail towards Seventh Mountain trying to find a more level walk that would be easier on Ann's knee. This brought us to the slough behind Seventh Mountain which is very dry in this season. In the spring and summer, it is home to many ducks. We walked briefly out on the dike into the slough before turning around and heading riverside past Lava Island towards the truck back at Aspen.

Bittersweet Nightshade Berries, Solanum dulcamara

Fireweed Seeds and Seedpods, Chamaenerion angustifolium 

Lava Island is named literally and is a big hunk of lava sandwiched between the main channel of the Deschutes to the east and a shallow high water channel to the west. Because of the reduced water flows, the high water channel is dry in this season. Volunteers head to this channel each fall to help census and move all the stranded fish, trout primarily, to the main channel, making the rough trek across the lava schlepping buckets of water and fish.

Lava Island High Water Channel is Dry

As much as I do not like smoke in the air, it did provide for a couple of interesting shots across Lava Island where the backlit smoke provided an eery, misty look to the photos.

As we walked the west bank opposite Lava Island, I wanted to show Ann, who has not walked this section of river before, the Lava Island Rockshelter, a very small cave that once served as a temporary hunting camp for historical peoples. A 1981 excavation found 38 obsidian points and tools such as hide scrapers, the obsidian probably coming from nearby Paulina or perhaps even just across the river at Lava Butte. Obsidian is common all over this part of Oregon. Dating is speculative, but the points are likely old. The tiny shelter was in use for about 10,000 years up to the early 1800s according to one estimate and for about 7,000 years up to 1900 according to another.

Lava Island Rockshelter

Glorious Wine Color of Creeping Oregon Grape, Berberis repens

Lava, Aspens (Populus tremuloides), and Willows (Salix sp.)

Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea) and Willows (Salix sp.)

We never did see any swans or any other waterfowl for that matter, but it was a gorgeous day for a river walk and an entirely different experience than in the spring.