River Monster on the John Day River

This past Memorial Day weekend, I had the pleasure of leading a group of friends, family, and dogs (including my chocolate lab, River Monster) down 70 miles of the John Day River in eastern Oregon. The John Day has the longest stretch of undammed water in the Northwest (284 miles), and the section of the John Day we paddled (from Clarno to Cottonwood) is designated as Wild and Scenic. We got lucky with water levels and had plenty of water to float the river (over 3,000 cfs)! It was quite the adventure with sightings of a long-eared owl family at camp, golden eagles eyeing Mom’s mini-Schnauzer, noisy chuckers, big horn sheep feeding along the river, and small mouth bass at the end of fishing poles.