The Annual Fall River Outing - 2015 by Andy Andrew

 

At the Fall River Campground on a Wednesday afternoon this September campfires were prohibited, due to the dry conditions.  Arriving late my tent was set with the help of a friend.  We put the rainfly on as an afterthought.  

 

I awoke several times during the night with rain pounding hard on my little tent.  The sound of rain on the tent is a very comfortable feeling for me, especaillay with the rainfly in place.  The campground is a porous type soil.  There were a few puddles around, but by noon all had been absorbed.  The moisture allowed for a lifing of the campfire ban.  No more rain fell through the rest of the outing.

 

Again this year we did an invertebrate sampling from the river.  We checked three sites near the campground selected by the Bend chapter and referenced by GPS coordinates.  We had no problem finding invertebrates as the Fall River is a bug factory.  Realizing we had no preservative to store the specimens we had to use a small amount of vodka as a preservative.  Fortunately, this acquistion did not prevent necessary camper hydration during the weekend.  The use of vodka was justified as a humane way to dispatch the specimen bugs.

 

We captured three main character in high numbers: stoneflies (Plecoptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera) and caddisflies (Trichoptera). As a general observation, we did not see as many caddis flies as was expected. 

 

Ten years ago, if a lantern was used at night, the dead October Caddis would have to be cleaned out before using the lantern again.  This year a lantern was lit three nights in a row without one insect found in the lantern in the next morning!  We did not have to worry about the water bottles freezing at night due to warmer weather conditions.

 

We had the usual barbecue on Saturday night.  There were (beef) ribs and chicken and the traditional shrimp and bacon wrap and, almost a veggie pizz.  The pizza became veggie upside down pie due to disturbances in the Force.  We did not lack for food.  The 20 people in attendance for dinner left well fed. 

 

As dessert time approached a thoughtful member presented a beautiful chocolate cake, candles and all to his spouse.  Once again an unpredicatable disturbance in the Force caused the cake to land upside down!  We contacted the National Earthquake Tracking Center to ask if there were any Richter Scale readings at the time.  We are waiting for their report.

 

The traditional Fall River Outing closes our schedule every year, followed closely by TU's Oregon State Project.  It is always a great event on an incredibly beautiful river. 

 

As the pictures (see photos area)  show fish were caught, stories were told and friendships were made and renewed.  Pictures by Jeff Horton, CRTU