Grande Ronde River (OR) - July 2-4, 2009

Grande Ronde River (OR) - July 2-4, 2009 - 40 Miles


Trip Itinerary:
Day 	Camp 			Bank 	Miles 
Put-in	Minam	 		Left	0.0
1	Clear Creek		Right	15.0
2	Wildcat Creek		Right	38.0
Takeout	Mud Creek		Left	40.0

Credits:
U.O.N., Olympus Stylus 770SW Digital Photography by William F. Smith (7.1 MP, 2304x1728 SQ1, 3X optical 38-114mm)

Last Update 16-Jul-09

Grande Ronde River (OR) - July 2-4, 2009 - 40 Miles

Please be patient while the pictures load...

Day 0 - Arrived 3pm at Minam and decided to rig cataraft while the Wallowa River putin was empty

Motel across from putin also runs a tourist train down the tracks 10 miles to Rondowa

Floating unloaded to campground 1 mile downstream at 6pm, after I realized others were already at the campsite

Day 1 - The expected putin "zoo". We had to overhead lift our "shuttle raft" in order to launch and get the drivers back to the camp

Kelly, Casey, Dennis, and myself float back

Fully rigged and on the water at 9:40am

Dennis gets to entertain his grandkids, Isabel and Collin (7 and 5)

Red Rock Rapid

Below Red Rock Rapid

Rapid (Riffle?)

Vincent Bridge

Fishing dory picks the wrong channel and gets stuck

Numbered cows riverside

Approaching Rondowa Bridge

Old bridge pillar

Grande Ronde merges with Wallowa 10 miles downstream of Minam

Rest of group passing under bridge

Official confirmation that we are now on the Grande Ronde

Sheep Creek on left

First night camp at Clear Creek. Actualy got there at 11:45am and had a relaxing afternoon nap

Disturbingly, Old Man River (Jay) is wearing a Green River/Nozzle T-shirt, with a picture of my cataraft on it! It was a picture taken by by friend Al earlier this year, that Chris at WingedStitches.com printed (and is giving me one also)

Day 2 - Casey is strumming away and Dennis is duct taping the worn guitar case

Getting ready to leave Clear Creek at 10:15am

Gail gets some time on the oars. Who made the divot?

Eddy stop to give the kids a swimming lesson

Pictures of people taking pictures...

Jay and Gail wander into the eddy

Canyon scenery

More canyon scenery...

Approaching Martin's Misery Rapid

Thru Martin's Misery Rapid, proving once again it is futile take pictures into the sun :)...

Passing Grossman Creek at 3:10pm

Canada Geese

After passing up on taking the poor end of the large, desirable Sickfoot camp (which was occupied by 1 boat, 2 oblivious people, with one agressive dog, at 5:47pm we still had yet to find a suitable camp, and the takeout road winds down the hills in the distance

Day 3 - Wildcat Creek camp. Kitchen on the rocks with toilet on other other side of small creek running thru camp

Tenting was short hike to a grassy bench that required "flattening". Overall this camp worked well, if I ignore the damn birds that starting squaking at 3:30am

Morning conversation between Casey and Dennis

A dying fish managed to park itself between my cataraft tubes

Chelsea feels the need to check out the fish close-up

Minutes after launching, the Powwatka Bridge is in sight

Quite the zoo here. Luckily our takeout is a half-mile downstream

Kelly gives the kids one last chance to screech

Mud Creek takout 12:00pm

Shuttle Bonus! - A windshield crack from a new rock hit, and I'm sure the 100 degree temps helped propagate it

Waiting in line with Dennis at Asotin to use the SCAT machine (toilet cleaner)

Pictures below provided by Eric Waggoner and Kelly Myers - Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

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USGS Flow at Troy 07/02/2009 12:00 5.02 2,970 CFS
07/04/2009 12:00 4.85 2,650 CFS