Macks To the Mouth: Day 1

Well, a buddy from work (who has a stellar raft) and I decided to float Macks Canyon to the Mouth of the Deschutes River last weekend. We each took Friday off and left from work Thursday night. On the way, we stopped off in Hood River to pick Johnny V's Oregon replacement, Brian Pickering. We got to Macks around 10 at night and set up our sleeping quarters. Woke up bright and early to inflate the raft, load our gear (which included a superior toilet) and pushed off. The river greeted us with sunshine and perfect water level and color. Being such, we started to drink of course (it's 8:30 am). We floated 9 miles in 3 hours stopping once so I could throw a nymph. We got close to our destination of Lockit (our planned camp), but saw lots of boats and full camps a long the way. So we ran into a single site 1 mile shy that had a beautiful run in front of it (not to mention the run before and after it). With a 10x10 sandy beach and 3 tent sites, we decided to make this our home for the next 2 nights (did I mention we had a superior pooper). After setting up camp around noon, the inevitable happened, the infamous Deschutes canyon winds. Being bummed about casting a fly rod, Pickering brought out the best.........let's drink! We did, and that's pretty much the conclusion of day 1.