But first a couple of local things: I went fishing! The Wednesday before we left Oregon, March 28th, I went with Robert West of Klamath Falls to what is known as the clearwater section of the Klamath River below the J.C. Boyle Dam, downstream from Keno, Oregon. I met Robert through Parker's Rod and Gun Rack a couple of years ago when he repaired a couple of my fly rods for me. Robert is handy at a lot of things and also makes custom fly rods and flies. I use a number of his flies. And... we have had some great fishing adventures.
The clearwater section of the Klamath River is called that because it is the stretch of water between the dam and where most of the water is released back into the river at electrical power turbines roughly 4 miles downstream. The river in this section is usually smaller and clearer because it is mostly filled by seepage from the dam and springs along the canyon.
Here's a shot of the Klamath River in that section from our trip:
The canyon is deep and very rugged. It takes a careful hike down, good footwear for slippery rocks in the river, and a seemingly longer hike up and out. The fishing is usually good for the Redband Rainbows found there. We caught and released roughly 40 fish that day, mostly by Robert. They ran 10-14 inches; not nearly as large as the Redbands the area is famous for, but they were abundant and relatively easy to catch.
The tangle of heavy vegetation along and in the river will limit the accessibility to this section of the Klamath River as the growing season progresses. Other sections will come into their own then, including the full river downstream which, I am told and want to experience, will have a great Salmonfly hatch later in the spring.
As the Klamath flows through the mountains crowded into the areas along the Oregon-California border it has many very rugged areas, some famous with the white-water people. Some say it is more rugged than the more famous Rogue River just over the Cascades from us. Here's a link with some river info from American Whitewater.
Spring is coming along nicely now at our 4,150 foot basin ringed by mountains. We arrived back at the ranch to find the grass greening up, the tulips and daffodils up, and the crocuses blooming. The early frogs are in full chorus now so I went out shortly after dark to try to identify the most vociferous ones in our several wetlands on the ranch. The sound is melodious from a distance and one of my favorite "calls of the wild." I thought I better make the effort now as I have meetings several nights this week and I had always missed the opportunity over the 6 springs we have been here.
At the first small wetland the frogs stopped their chorus as soon as I arrived. It was too small and my noise and bright light was too much for them.
At the larger wetland in the north pasture there were hundreds of frogs singing simultaneously and I hardly effected their amorous calls at all, even when I decided to drive my little SUV there, lights shining over the wetland and all. I was able to walk within a couple of feet of the tiny little frogs near the edge of the water while they just kept on singing, the air coursing back and forth between deeper in their bodies and their inflated throat pouch. One little frog at a time does not make a very impressive sound - just a little two part creck! However, with hundreds of them calling at the same time the sound at the edge of the wetland is nearly earsplitting. They can easily be heard over a mile on a calm night.
Oh, and they turned out to be be Pacific Treefrogs, Hyla regilla. They come in a couple of color forms and also have limited ability, as do other tree frogs, to change colors within a minute or so, especially from gray to green. They have a large range west of the Rockies from southern Baja well up into central B.C.
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