Backpacking - Deschutes River State Recreational Area

10/26/2019 - Failed, and we came back home

Our second backpacking trip was to Deschutes River. It had a gravel road - so it was supposed to be an easy walk along the river then camp out somewhere 11~12miles point. According to what Shurie researched, there are supposed to be lots of camp sites here and there along the way.

What we didn't know (or didn't care) was that it was the last weekend fishing is allowed - so there were lots of people fishing with a boat. So a lot of the camp sites (good ones on the shore) were taken by the fishers, because they had better visibility from the riverside and they were there for a couple days or from the very early morning.

Other camp sites seemed like we really can't make fire - just surrounded dry shrubs and grass. Only available space was literally 5 feet from other campers.

After unsuccessful attempts to find a good place to camp, for about 1.5 hour, which added a couple miles of walking, we decided to walk back to the car and go home.

Poor shurie forgot to put his insole support into his shoes (he has really high foot arches, so without the support, he can't walk long) - it was already painful for him going in one-way, but adding a couple miles to find a camp site, and walking back 12 miles nearly killed him. He was on the brink of collapsing, but he powered through!!

By the last hour or so, it got so dark that we had to wear head lamps. We were exhausted and starving. We only had lunch and snacks, as we were not able to cook dinner :( Good thing that we didn't drive too far.

The only meal we had

Rock formation here was really amazing

Poor Shurie already in pain

I picked up this beautiful thing (don't know its name). I wanted to take it home but I had to give it up very soon.