Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, August 6, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
Adventuresome anglers willing to brave
brush-fi lled shorelines, giant boulders,
and swift waters often fi nd reward.
August already,
and there’s so
much to do
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
W
ow! It’s already August. I don’t
know about you but my life has
been passing by in a blur lately.
I’ve been fl ying out for three weeks and
home for one week this year and I don’t
hardly know what season it is, much less
what month it is. With that said, let’s plan out
August so we don’t wake up and see snow
outside the window and wonder what hap-
pened to our summer.
OK, I’m super busy right now. We just
fi nished my daughter’s wedding, redid the
fl oors throughout the whole house, I have to
get in all of my July invoices and I just fl ew
back home Friday. It is Monday and I have
to get in this week’s article right fast. What
should I do? I’ll tell you what I need to do!
I’m going to get this article fi nished then
I’m going to go grab Orin and Josiah and go
crappie fi shing. Whew! That decision took
a lot of stress off of me. Now I can get my
focal point on the far wall and breath deeply.
No wait, that’s the Lamaze recommendations
when you’re having a baby. But since men
have a lower pain tolerance it is almost that
painful having not been able to fi sh for three
weeks.
I think we’ll fi sh
until midnight, put
ice on the fi sh and
then fi llet them in the
morning. If the fi shing
is still good then I
think I’ll go fi shing
twice more this week.
Oh, but the huck-
leberries ought to be
out by now. You don’t
Tom Claycomb/
want to miss the huck-
Contributed Photo
leberry season. That’d
be a colossal mistake. Throw some
Huckleberries are the huckleberries and
thimble berries into
best berries in the
world. If you’ve never your morning oatmeal
picked them you have while backpacking for a
to go. They make the gourmet meal.
best ice cream in the
world. Make sure to
wear a pistol in case you run into an aggres-
sive bear. I remember one year there was a
cute little fuzz ball cub about 14 inches long
eating them by me. I saw him and fi gured it
was time to scatter.
Katy starts school in a couple of weeks.
We need to take one last camping trip,
don’t we? Think I’ll try to do a low-profi le
camping trip. Maybe just go to the moun-
tains and throw up a tent by a river and burn
some steaks over a fi re. Or maybe I can talk
her into camping on a lake and us crappie
fi sh for a couple of days.
Or something I’ve been wanting to do for
a couple of years is to go get a room at the
Big Creek Lodge. The original lodge burned
down years ago but they rebuilt another one.
That’d be fun to go stay there and hike and
pick berries.
After the fl oor was laid in my offi ce, I
spent two days getting my offi ce back in
order. ... translates to two good fi shing days
wasted doing that. My four-wheeler has been
in the shop. I think the bears poured sugar
water in the gas tank to keep me from being
up in the mountains chasing them. Pretty
ungrateful, huh, seeing how many hundreds
of pounds of bait I feed them every year.
But despite the bears (there are haters
everywhere, you can’t let them bother you)
with the heat pounding us like it is, Katy
wants to go up high where it’s a little cooler
and do some trail riding. Hmm, not a bad
option anytime a good-looking girl wants to
go four-wheeling with you.
And lest I give you a big list of outdoor
things to do and you get sidetracked don’t
See, Claycomb/Page B2
Searching for a
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
S
uppose someone whispered the location
of a secret trout hideaway. A remote
creek hidden deep at the head of a
narrow canyon. With trout as long as your arm.
There is no signpost, ax mark on a tree, or
animal trail to point the way.
“Only one way in and
one way out.”
Such tales are often told
around a blazing campfi re.
Perhaps on a cool, moonlit
night when the tips of tall
fi rs sway and woodsmoke
swirls among participants.
The trout grow larger and
the route to the canyon
steepens with each pass of a
whiskey fl ask.
I’ve been talked into
pursuing similar adven-
tures. Many years ago, on a
week-long hike in the Wal-
lowa Mountains, my older
brother talked me into a
cross-country trek across a
mile-long, ankle-breaking
talus slope in search of an
“unmapped” lake that held
giant brookies. We returned
to camp in the dark, dis-
ENTERPRISE — The Wal-
lowa-Whitman National Forest
is planning work on roads and
bridges that will result in tem-
porary closures and delays
on two roads in the Wallowa
Mountains later in August.
Big Canyon Road,
No. 8270
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Rarely fi shed headwater streams might hold native rainbow trout
“as long as your arm.”
years. As evidence of his
zeal, he once transported
native rainbow trout in a
bucket above an impassable
fall in nearby Bear Creek.
“Maybe two miles up,” he
said. “I never went back to
see if they took, though.”
I thought I knew all
the creeks in the vicinity,
having fi shed Meacham,
Bear, Thomas, and Buck
Creeks since I was a young-
ster. Always in late spring
See, Dauble/Page B2
Forest road work will
cause closures, delays
EO Media Group
Crappie fi shing should still be good in places around
the region as summer wanes.
appointed and hungry.
Another rumor once lured
me to seek a wilderness lake
purported to hold a large
population of rare golden
trout. The shallow, weed-
choked pond at the end of a
12-mile trail also failed to
produce trout nirvana.
Despite these fallacious
attempts, what some folks
might call “boondoggles,”
my interest was piqued
when a cabin neighbor
shared a tale.
“Have you ever fi shed
Shimmiehorn Creek,”
Leonard asked. “Lots
of holes and fi sh. Tough
access.”
Leonard is a reliable
source of information,
having fi shed the upper
Umatilla River for over 50
Crews are slated to repair
fl ood damage on the road at
Milepost 7.7 from Aug. 10-19.
The road will be closed on
Aug. 11-12, and at other times
travelers should expect delays
of up to 30 minutes.
More information is avail-
able by calling 541-426-5546.
Little Eagle Creek,
Road 7735
The road will be closed for
about 60 days, starting Aug.
15, to allow crews to replace
the bridge over Little Eagle
Creek.
Road 7735 will be closed
between its junctions with
Road 7720 and Road 7700-
300. Road 7735 will be open
from its junction with Road
7700 to the 7700-300 junction.
The closure does not aff ect
Road 7700, the main Eagle
Creek Road.
See, Roads/Page B2
Big Canyon Road
project location,
Forest Road 8270,
milepost 7.7
U.S. Forest Service map