There’s a chill in the morning air whispering of autumn. 36 degrees the other morning and 48 degrees today. The morning chill is almost enough to warrant shoes instead of flip flops, and a sweater instead of short sleeves. Almost because I know that the morning sun will warm dawn’s early chill shortly. There are still a few days of summer remaining, a few more days of hot afternoons relaxing on the river, a few more days to run the McKenzie before winter gear is necessary. A few more days.
Summer time in Bend has been wonderful. This little spot nestled in the western slope of the Cascades is truly a small slice of Heaven on earth. There are so many fun events it’s difficult to choose between them. Kayaking has been the priority, although there was one weekend that I should have ditched work to go kayaking. Except that I had already committed to the work. As it turned out we didn’t need to get more video that day, and I could have gone kayaking instead? See ditching the video gig would’ve been ok, and I should have gone kayaking with my friends. No that’s not really true. It was only a couple of hours before the shoot that we decided we didn’t need any more footage so I wasn’t really off the hook for the day. Skipping the kayaking was the right thing to do.
The Deschutes River winds lazily through Bend, and during the summer it’s a popular tubing run. These days though it’s mostly queen size inflatable mattresses that people are using instead of inner tubes. Actually I don’t think I saw a single black rubber car inner tube on the river at all. They’re all fancy these days with cloth coverings, cup holders, and handles. Makes me think of the girl on the San Marcos River last summer “It’s got a gps” she said with a heavy Texas twang. The tube run on the Deschutes is much more serene than the San Marcos or Comal Rivers in Texas. The current moves quickly, but there aren’t any rapids or tube chutes for excitement. Hopefully we’ll get permits and funding to rebuild the Colorado Street dam into a little white water park. It can happen, all we need is 1.2 million dollars. Send donations to the Bend Paddle Trail Alliance BPTA.
The white water park won’t have as much power as the man made wave in Glennwood Springs, Colorado, but it’ll be lots of fun anyway. Besides our little white water park will replace the dangerous man eating dam at Colorado street.
Summer’s days are growing shorter and the throngs on the river dwindle down, and soon Alder Creek will have its end of the season sale. Autumn’s coming.