For some reason I always seem to choose the first winter storm of the season to cross the Cascades and kayak. This is the third year in a row. One would think that I'd get a clue. One would be wrong. This time I challenged the tradition by leaving home knowing that a winter storm was brewing. I even chose to take one of the highest passes through the mtns: the 4500 ft White Pass. Two lanes, high, twisty, high, cold, high, dark, high.... did I mention high? It took me an hour to wind the 25 miles over the worst of it and all while towing "Princess", my 21-foot Streamline trailer born in 1970. There were no incidents and I managed to make the Wal-Mart parking lot in Longview, WA by about 11pm. In 2005 Pam and I paddled to the site of the Chinook Indian village named "Quathlapotle" which was visited by the members of the Lewis and Clark party in November of 1805 and again in March of 1806 and written about in the various journals. This ear;oer visit, and the ties between Cathlapotle (as it is spelled today) and my wife's family, have drawn me back a couple of times. I can't get over the fact that 200 years ago this area, only about 20 miles from Portland, Oregon, is nowhere near as populated today as it was then. The journals of Lewis and Clarke - and those of other members of the party - are full of descriptions of village after village and camp after camp after they left the Columbia River Gorge and got to the vicinity of Portland. Today our highways aren't so much water (although with the rain we had last weekend they were mostly water) and many of the village sites are only accessible by boat. Pam and I had launched at Ridgefield, WA which is a small town located on Bachelor Slough. The confluence of Bachelor Slough with the Columbia River is the site of the former village of Cathlapotle - described by Clarke as a village of 14 plankhouses which historians think would have housed some 900 persons. This was, to the expedition members, a "large" village. However there were many more villages on Sauvie's Island just across the Columbia River and even more around the corner and up the Lewis River. For the Chinooks - a band of people held together mostly by their common language - this was a major population center. This time, when I got to Ridgefield, I was not impressed. There was a strategically placed sign saying "Keep Out" at the head of the ramp leading to the marina office and a kayak business. The "kayak launch" area next to a hazardous waste site that had dilapidated docks and a wire cable across the entrance along with a scattering of "no parking" signs in the parking lot. Even so, the Port of Ridgefield still wanted the same $6 to park a vehicle there as they did over at the new launch area; the one with heated toilets instead of a 95% full porta potti. So instead of launching there and repeating the trip Pam and I made in 2005 I retreated to make camp at a nearby state park that boasted of some waterfront. After cutting the Princess loose at our campsite at Paradise Point State Park (hooked up to electricity and warming nicely) I discovered a sandy beach launch under the I-5 freeway bridges on the east fork of the Lewis River. No one knew whether there were any rapids between the beach and the Columbia River but my GPS said it was only 3' and how bad could rapids that had only a 3' drop be, anyway. I went back to the Princess and got garbed up in my drysuit with poly undersuit and drove down to the beach and put the Mariner II in the water. I had chosen the Mariner II because it's the fastest kayak I've ever paddled - by far - and is still stable and comfortable. I knew that I was going to face some currents paddling rivers unless I lucked out in my choice of tides (I didn't). It turned out to be the perfect choice as I still managed 2.5 to 3.2 kts even going upstream against the tide and river flow. Downstream that sucker just rocketed along. By the time I reached the railroad bridge my GPS chart seemed to me to say that I had another 4 or 5 nm to go to get to the point that Cathlapotle once sat upon and was thinking that maybe getting back to the launch site would be a longer slog than I was ready for. Little did I realize - I only discovered this the next day - I was less than a mile from the point and could have easily reached it. Next time. Even though I didn't get all the way to Cathlapotle this time, I did get into the "feel" of the river as ancient freeways. And even though there are many signs of modern man (dikes and poles - power, telephone, and moorings) it still didn't take much imagination to think about what this must have been like 200 years ago where canoes would pull out just to take a closer look at the white guys in the canoes. Photos and more words about the trip on www.nwkayaking.net. I returned home via the Columbia River Gorge and was driving home in sunshine an hour after I left Portland. For some reason, though, the dark brooding weather on the coast seemed to highlight the trip instead of ruining it. But it could have been worse without the drysuit. And the snappy rain hat Pam gave me. :) Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
The difficulties I had launching in the area of the confluence of the Lewis River and the Columbia River in SW Washington State have been confirmed by at least one other paddler. However I did manage to contact the Port of Woodland, Washington this morning and the kind lady on the phone said that the permit needed to use the nice sandy beach only costs $5 and lasts for two years. The downside is that they want you to come in and fill out a form. However, since I live 300 miles away she allowed as how they would work with me over the mail. If you do paddle this area be sure to have a printout of the journals kept by the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition. These are all available from http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu and make fascinating reading. They are annotated with clarifying remarks to help correlate the journal entries with present day geographical features and include not just the journal writings of Lewis and Clark but other members of the expedition as well. These other entries often provide interesting viewpoints. I'd like to add that combining paddling with historic investigations is an excellent way to keep your mind and body active at the same time. That there are often interesting birds and animals to look at simply adds to the mix. For me the combination of the family ties to the Chinook Nation, the fact that the native Americans in this area used the water extensively, and the knowledge of what was to follow makes traveling by kayak in this area compelling. Having a State Park with utility campsites makes it easier by giving me a comfortable base from which to move out and explore. It's also interesting that few people who live in the area are familiar with the historical aspects of the area. They take it for granted that the geography they see is the same as it's always been. Even people living right on the water in floating homes had little inkling that a Chinook village of 14 plankhouses existed only a mile away from where they live now. Or that there were thousands of natives living within a few miles. I highly recommend reading the journals if you live close to the route the Lewis and Clark expedition took. The web site has all of them and some of the illustrations (but not all, due to some sort of legal issue) from the start of the expedition through the encampment in Oregon and on to the finish. These guys really knew how to paddle!!! Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Craig said on 11 November 2009 > These guys really knew how to paddle !!! and > permit needed to use the nice sandy beach only costs $5 One can't help being envious of their freedoms. I'll suppress the rant about the usefulness or the need for such a $5 charge... Good to hear that you keep alive a tradition stretching back a number of years. I grew up about a mile from the Ottawa River and near an old store that began as a trading post. It was still a small, family-run store and, in the corner of it, our local post office was a series of open-fronted 'pigeon-holes' - the shop-keeper wore two hats. It was a small village. Growing up playing round with canoes - and with the Indian Reserve one mile across the river - we were aware of the links to the past; but only peripherally. I'm not aware of any local history that celebrates such links - there is some stuff in the wonderful Canoe museum in Peterborough (go there if you can) - but that's many miles & hours away and is generic (on the fur trade) and not specific to the Ottawa. It seems that the somewhat nearer Canadian Museum of Civilisation (in the city of Ottawa) has just (Sept 2009) opened a one year exhibition celebrating the story of the fur trade (1779-1821). This museum has impressed me in the past - so it might be worth a detour if you are in Eastern Canada any time soon. Otherwise - look to your local links with canoes and indigenous craft. I was intrigued to hear Paul Caffyn talk about the inevitability of finding historic remains during his paddle along the (now uninhabited) Greenland coast. As he said, if it was a good landing place for a kayak in 2008 - it was equally good for any kayaker of any era. Best Regards Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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