Well, it was more like twenty, or maybe twenty five. Anyway, it finally quit raining and blowing like fury around here, and I got in two paddle trips in two days, after a too-long hiatus. In Tillamook they're portaging cows to high ground, and Hwy 101 is under water for a few days. Here, everything is wet, and the hooded merganzers don't know they are socializing in a mud puddle because it looks like a lake. One trip was a 10-12 mile circuit in the islands, dodging waist-high mist with shotgun bloops in the distance as duck hunters cleaned out the remainder of the stupid mallards. Low-grade compass work made quick work of a beeline to an island off the shipping channel. As the mist cleared, I shot across the channel to the Washington shore. The main feature was a two mile gunkhole along a steep weeping wall shoreline, complete with red-breasted sapsuckers, and myriad waterfalls, culminating in cheese and bread on a quiet, sunny float in Skamokawa, WA. Nobody else thought to paddle that day, but the Refuge guys were out spying on critters to clean up the Xmas bird count. No, I can't join you, I only have neoprene booties to wear. Heavy rainfall made for swift current on the return. The other was a solo high water exploration along the east shoreline of Long Island, Willapa Bay, WA, making the best of a 12 foot tide. All the dikes were awash, and all the backwaters were open. Only a couple lone buffleheads, one solid redtail, a handful of flickers, the usual gang of rowdy crows, and three dozen mallards were around. Where do all the other waterfowl go at high tide? Is it too deep for them? Too wet? Puff. Puff. Too much food. Not enough exercise. How did this sprayskirt get so tight? Must shrink in the wet. One solitary full-sector rainbow, internally backlit, as the rain shimmers down. On the return, mist in the face, and a grebe surfaces ten feet away on the starboard side, ponders my stroke, and plops down. Where were all the other people? Too easy, and too much fun. Work returns next week. Who needs 70 degree weather and shirtsleeves? Who wants solid water to slide over? -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
>The other was a solo high water exploration along the east shoreline of >Long Island, Willapa Bay, WA, making the best of a 12 foot tide. Is Willapa Bay a good winter kayaking destination? What are typical air and water temps? Jerry *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Gerald Foodman wrote: > > >The other was a solo high water exploration along the east shoreline of > >Long Island, Willapa Bay, WA, making the best of a 12 foot tide. > > Is Willapa Bay a good winter kayaking destination? What are typical air and > water temps? Air varies from 32 F to 50 F, most times. It is a marine environment, often swept by systems off the North Pacific, and so is wet and "warm" for its latitude. Storms usually last for only a day or so, with at least a small window of relative calm so you can sneak home from a weekend camping trip. Have not been stranded yet, in seven seasons of regular camping there. Winter water temps range in the fifties, and may get as cold as the high forties at times. In summer, the Bay reaches 65 F for a while. It's wet suit country in the winter. Big, open water, with humongous tide flats, generally covered enough to yak over when the tide book says there is 3 feet of water depth. Tidal range is six or eight feet, most of the time, ten or twelve feet, maximum. It is a mixed semidiurnal tide, so one of the lows is not very low at all, and a person can sometimes ignore the low tide and paddle all day, but that's rare! I usually paddle the high tide, but judicious planning will allow tidal assist on the ebb to a crossing of a shallow spot. Then I go ashore for siesta, etc., and wait for the water to return to help me home. Long Island (the most attractive spot for camping, etc.) can be circumnavigated that way. Mostly a lonesome place; home to oyster ranchers and the occasional duck hunter or ocean-bound tug/crabber. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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