Old Building, New Cheeseburger Frontier & Big Water

The award for Best New Name For An Old Building is . . . The Redd. It’s in Portland. On Salmon Street. Note that street. A redd, for those suspicious of the two d’s, is a nest excavated by fish to lay their baby fish eggs in. The internet assures me ‘redd up’ means to clear or tidy an area. The expression is used in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Pennsylvania. I guess that makes sense, if that’s the connection, because fish do clear bigger rocks out and sort the gravel when digging redds.

Normally symbolism and the like symbolizes for me that my eyes are about to roll, but in this case you’ve got: Salmon Street; fixing up an old warehouse to kick off new life for businesses and whatnot; little baby fish/businesses growing up to make a healthier stream/street. I like it. It’s good. Give whoever thought that one up a high five.

Spencer and Bobcat after steelhead fishing grand river on the Wild and Scenic Grande Ronde.

I heard about The Redd project from Spencer Beebe. I know him as a Grande Ronde steelhead fisherman, rower of boats and card player. But he’s also the founder of EcoTrust, the conservation outfit in Portland, who are behind this revamping of the 16,000 square foot warehouse intended to be a place where jumper cables can be applied to good ideas. Last time I saw Spencer was on the Salmon River last fall. We sat down along the Grande Ronde River this month and played a round of ‘What You Been Up To?’ and Spencer definitely had me outgunned in the cool-sounding projects to make the world a better place department. Although I did put a new roof on my house this year and I don’t recall Spencer mentioning any roofing projects. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

Anyhow, learn more about The Redd and other EcoTrust goings-on by internetting here. To learn about playing the card game Oh Hell, stay here.

Remember to spey and neuter.

Steelhead, Flow & Burgers on the River

The card game Oh Hell is pretty simple. All you need is a deck of cards, a float trip in the fall, a wall tent full of steelhead fishermen, a little woodstove crackling in the corner of the wall tent to dry waders and keep you toasty, something to drink while playing – also to keep you toasty – then you get dealt some cards and there’s either a trump suit, or not. You bid how many you think you’ll win, or not. And . . . I don’t know. It’s easy to play but hard to explain. Better have Spencer or his pals explain it. Anyway, it’s super fun and you should try it. Here’s what the inside of a wall tent after a game of Oh Hell looks like:

The fishing report for the Grande Ronde River for our late October trip was off the charts—if you used small charts. "Slowish," or "challenging," would be accurate. Grande Ronde River flows, temps, and the recent pulse of rain—all that jazz had me optimistic that we’d get into the fish all right on this 5-day trip. But the grande ronde river steelhead report wasn’t promising. The crew went after it hard, though, and did get into some fish. And river otters. This next picture shows Silas Beebe laying some casts out and those two little heads just upstream of him are otters working their way downstream. (Click to enlarge.)

Cheeseburgers & Misty Mornings

Jared Wilcox helped Paul and I run camps on this foray, and burger night got stepped up a notch beyond the already powerful high mark of using local, grass-fed happy cows from Carman Ranch. Jared and I went the extra step to stuff smoked cheese and bacon INSIDE our burger patties. Repeat: cheese and bacon were INSIDE our burger patties. The overall effect was . . . well, this is a family website so I can’t go into too much more detail. Let’s just say it was [Edited to comply with windingwatersrafting.com standards] and could only be compared to [Edited to comply with windingwatersrafting.com standards] that I heard about one time from a guy I know who was in the Navy.

Cheeseburger revolution. Fishing grande ronde is best enjoyed with full bellies and beautiful backdrops.

Dessert wasn’t too shabby, either. Here’s Paul warming fruit compote to go atop ginger cake. Thanks, Hilary. And a nice, peaceful shot from one of our favorite Grande Ronde fishing camps with some misty morning action.

And a nice, peaceful shot from one of our favorite GR camps with some misty morning action.

This just in:

The Boathouse Shop will be OPEN this December on Fridays & Saturdays from 12-6PM. Great spot to buy unique gifts. 30% off on all apparel.

Also: WWRE is planning a big whitewater trip for springtime. Check out our “ Hells and High Water ” Adventure May 15-17, 2015. Special early-season pricing.

Your Grande Ronde Adventure

Grande Ronde Lake glistened in the distance as we packed out our gear. Our launch was just downstream of Boggan's Oasis on the Grande Ronde River, a perfect place to grab a final bite and stretch your legs.

We spotted signs for Troy, Oregon, another gem near the Grande Ronde River, Oregon, stretch we had floated. The Grande Ronde shuttle met us on time and shared a few tales about Grande Ronde River rafting groups earlier that week. The grande ronde flows were ideal — smooth and consistent.

Back in camp, I flipped through a Grande Ronde River map, tracking our journey and remembering key moments — the cool eddies, sudden strikes, and those elusive Grande Ronde steelhead.



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