Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

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drm
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Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by drm » March 31st, 2023, 10:22 am

I decided to do the Deschutes from the other end and take advantage of an early season car camping opportunity at river's edge. Arriving at 4:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, there was only one other of the 20 sites occupied. Pics include most of the canyons you have to descend and cross, of which there are 5.
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Macks Canyon Campground camp
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First canyon crossing, note steep trail on the left
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In some places where there is a road cut, the trail is filled with boulders.
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But usually there is a narrow trail on top of the ridgelet to bypass the rocks
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A smaller and easier crossing, the trail comes in from the right
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another crossing, with a decent trail
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love that basalt
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the last major crossing, the trail again enters from lower right, crosses on of those steps, then steeply up
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if you look at the right side of the leftmost of those trees, you can barely see some birds
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well I just bought a point and shoot camera with very strong zoom. Here it is x 35
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and I think 45 here - that's a cormorant, right? these are still hand held. you kind of need a tripod or something to hold the camera steady, which I don't have yet.

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adamschneider
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by adamschneider » March 31st, 2023, 12:31 pm

Yes, that's a double-crested cormorant.

I'm not sure a tripod would help, because the fuzziness in that 45x photo isn't motion blur. It's partly that the camera is focusing more on the water than the bird, and partly that you're just not going to get 100% crisp photos at that distance with a point-and-shoot!

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drm
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by drm » April 1st, 2023, 7:33 am

Although the camera has software for shaking, it doesn't work perfectly. Comparing the various shots I got, some of which were completely blurred out, I am inclined to think it was not the focus. Lacking a tripod, I had to steady the camera in other ways to get these shots.

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adamschneider
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by adamschneider » April 1st, 2023, 7:42 am

(Correction: a tripod will HELP, but there's only so much it can help with.)

cmbaker91
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by cmbaker91 » April 1st, 2023, 3:47 pm

Thanks for the trip report. Am thinking of doing part of this hike as a 3-night backpack from Macks to the mouth of the Deschutes in early May with my dad. How did you find the road into Macks rec area? I've heard varying reports from "not that bad, with a few wash boarded areas" to "terrible and prepare for tons of wash boarding." Trail looks a little rough in some areas north of Macks, e.g. boulders covering trail, trestle climbing, but curious how you found it? We'd probably have 35-40 lb packs on. And how was river access to pump water?

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drm
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by drm » April 1st, 2023, 3:58 pm

The road had some minor potholes, but otherwise was perfectly smooth gravel - no washboarding at all - for now, though that will return at some point. The thing is that on the way in, there were a variety of rocks on the road, any one of which would take out a tire, so you had to watch closely and avoid them. On the way out, they were all gone, they had been removed. Presumably more will fall from the steep cliffs above.

The difficulties on the trail are only the first 4 miles or so from Macks. There are only a few areas where you can easily access the river from the road, but that should be enough. There are also far fewer established campsites on that end than on the north end, but there are a few if you watch closely.

Those steep sections will not be fun with heavy packs, but they are also very short. A good place to have decent footwear, not trail runners, if only for those short sections.

I would be most intimidated by the long car shuttle. Since I usually backpack solo, I would just do an out-and-back from one end.

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retired jerry
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by retired jerry » April 4th, 2023, 4:01 pm

they work on the road regularly so sometimes it's not that bad, then after a year it will turn into horrible washboarding

I was there a month ago and it wasn't too bad

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miah66
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by miah66 » April 20th, 2023, 8:36 am

I have also heard that the Deschutes River Water is not safe to drink as it's contaminated w/ chemicals from agricultural runoff from the plateaus above, and filtering will not remove the chemicals. YMMV
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retired jerry
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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by retired jerry » April 20th, 2023, 11:32 am

Thanks. I have wondered about that. It makes sense the water is contaminated given it's draining Bend, Madras, Redmond, all that agricultural land.

I have drunk that water before. It doesn't look too bad. Maybe it's better when there's high flow so the contaminates are diluted. Maybe a activated carbon filter would be better.

If you go to Harris Ranch, the water tower, then hike up that road, there's a stream. I think they used that for drinking water. I don't think it drains from agricultural land. Below that road there's a bigger stream but it drains from agricultural land.

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Re: Deschutes River - Macks Canyon

Post by drm » April 25th, 2023, 7:49 am

I once looked up water quality levels for the Deschutes - I think the measurement was taken at the mouth, and as Jerry said, in the spring with high water, it's not bad. It's true that ag runoff is in solution and cannot be filtered or boiled. But for one or two nights a year, I really think the risks are low. I wouldn't plan on consuming that water regularly. When it comes to low-level pollutants, frequency is everything.

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