Little Colorado

Well it has happened again and our river is worse than it was during the last high water spike. This time a storm cell hit the upper reaches of the Lower Deschutes causing flash flooding in multiple drainages from Warm Springs boat launch downstream.

The Moody gauge read at a high of 10,300 cfs yesterday before quickly dropping back down to 8,700 cfs. Dry Creek and Trout Creek were two of the main culprits, from what I hear, and there are new gravel bars at a number of gullies upstream after the multiple flash floods. After talking to some outfitters coming off the water it sounds like a storm of biblical proportions hit the entire river upstream of Maupin.

I slept with my fingers crossed that this would clear quickly, since most of the color was from flash flooding. But we are into the second day of red/brown water, and I don’t expect it to clear for another 48 hours at a minimum. I’ll send out a new report when the river returns to a fishable state in what I hope is just a couple more days.