The Little Deschutes River is a tributary of the

Deschutes River The Deschutes River ( ) in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many of the tributaries that descend from the drier, easte ...

in the central part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. It is about long, with a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of . It drains a rural area on the east side of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

south of Bend. The Little Deschutes and two other streams in its basin are listed as parts of the

National Wild and Scenic Rivers System The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

Course

The Little Deschutes River rises near Mule Peak in the high Cascades in the

Mount Thielsen Wilderness The Mount Thielsen Wilderness is a wilderness area located on and around Mount Thielsen in the southern Cascade Range of Oregon in the United States. It is located within the Deschutes National Forest, Deschutes, Umpqua National Forest, Umpqua ...

in northwestern Klamath County, approximately north of

Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the Western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

. It flows generally north from the mountains through the

Deschutes National Forest The Deschutes National Forest is a United States national forest (NF) located in Central Oregon, in parts of Deschutes, Klamath, Lake, and Jefferson counties. It was established in 1908, with border changes following in 1911 and 1915. The f ...

, roughly following U.S. Highway 97 past

La Pine La Pine is a city in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, incorporated on December 7, 2006. La Pine is part of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,512 people as of the 2020 Census. La Pine is in an isola ...

. It joins the Deschutes from the south approximately south of Bend in southern

Deschutes County Deschutes County ( ) is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 198,253. The county seat is Bend. The county was created in 1916 out of part of Crook County and was named for the Deschu ...

. It passes through the small towns of

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

and Gilchrist and joins with the Deschutes at Sunriver. The stream meanders significantly most of its course, though this is less pronounced above

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometre, kilometers is the river kilometer. They are an ...

80 (river kilometer 130), which is near its crossing of

Oregon Route 58 Oregon Route 58 (OR 58), also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18 (see Oregon highways and routes), is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon. The route, signed east–west, runs in a southeast–northwest direction, connecting U.S ...

"Wild and Scenic" designation

In 1988, the upper of the river was designated part of the

. The river's canyon and

outwash plain An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the glacier terminus, terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying r ...

contain eroding deposits of

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of extremely vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicula ...

and ash from the eruption of

Mount Mazama Mount Mazama ( Klamath: ''Tum-sum-ne'') is a complex volcano in the western U.S. state of Oregon, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. The volcano is in Klamath County, in the southern Cascades, north of the Oregon– ...

about 7,000 years ago. Two other streams in the Little Deschutes drainage basin are also part of the system. A stretch of

Crescent Creek Crescent Creek is a tributary of the Little Deschutes River in Klamath County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at Crescent Lake on the eastern flank of the Cascade Range, the river flows generally east through parts of the Deschutes Nat ...

, all of

Big Marsh Creek Big Marsh Creek is a tributary of Crescent Creek in Klamath County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The creek flows generally north from its source upstream of Big Marsh, south of Crescent Lake on the eastern side of the Cascade Range. All of B ...

, and the canyon section of the Little Deschutes have all been designated "recreational".

References

{{authority control Rivers of Deschutes County, Oregon Rivers of Klamath County, Oregon Rivers of Oregon Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States

Course

"Wild and Scenic" designation

See also

References