Crooked River Canyon at Cove Palisades State Park

The Northern Paiute called it *udɨ huudɨ* — deep canyon creek — and the canyon still earns that name. Cove Palisades State Park sits where the Crooked and Deschutes rivers feed into Lake Billy Chinook, a reservoir carved into central Oregon's high desert basalt. From fall through spring, the rivers offer roughly 30 miles of flat-water paddling. The rest of the year, the lake draws boaters, swimmers, and people who just want to watch the water from somewhere the canyon walls have been doing the work for longer than anyone can remember.