http://www.willamettewatertrail.org/

sounds interesting. An one with Experience on this trail?

Yup, very fun in some segments.

Gotta run right now but I'll post more later...

very interested

If you subscribe to PDXSeaKayaker, you can get hordes of free, mainly reliable info from PDX area paddlers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PDXseakay ... =119374634

And, a copy of Philip Jones excellent guide will help on sections of the Willamette, also: http://www.amazon.com/Canoe-Kayak-Route ... 0898865131

done and ordered. I am still a probie on the yahoo group so I cannot post.

The guide is on its way to a powells near me. (ie Hawthorne)

in spring of '09 after seeing and buying the two rivertrail guidebooks, my wife and I spent four weekend doing different sections of the river. We started out doing some of the middle parts, then did the lower Mckenzie and part of the Willamette, then the last trip, which I mostly regretted, was the lower section leading to Wilsonville which we did on memorial day- Big mistake! We considered and chickened out on doing the Eugene sections because we weren't sure about the rapids there.

Because all my multi-day trips had been on spectacular Vancouver Island I didn't expect much out of camping and boating on the Willamette, but I was pleasantly surprised. While it's certainly not wilderness the river and camp spots can be very beautiful and soul pleasing. I was amazed at the numbers of eagles and Ospreys. In one spot we set up camp and when a low flying plane scared them out of their roosts, we counted 15 immature bald eagles flying away. The next morning from the same gravel bar I watched an eagle flying high and far to chase down and steal a fish from an osprey, the brief dogfight was amazing. all in all on that trip I saw a higher concentration of eagles than I've ever seen in BC! Also in spring there can be great wildflowers found on the banks and on the islands.

There are a few downsides. Because there are often backroads paralleling the river, and many quarrys also, you can often hear cars and trucks when hanging in camp and sometimes into the early night. And also you have to deal with car shuttles. It got to be a bit tedious going back upstream to pick up the car left at the put in. One thing you should probably have is a way to lock up your boat. We would unload all our gear at the take out and lock the boats to a convenient tree while retrieving the other car.

Another cool aspect of boating there is that you end up seeing some of the small towns that you never would see while roaring down the I5 corridor. I highly recommend the small craft brewery near the river in Albany, I can't remember the name right now.

This spring we did one trip where we went down some of the side channels between Peoria and Corvalis. That was a bit different kinda like paddling in canals interspersed with small riffles every so often. There's one spot where an old bridge has built up quite a log jam which has a small section sawn out of the middle. At the river level when we did it it was a small drop off that definitely got the adrenaline flowing.


Lately I've been doing some evening urban paddling around here in town. Last night put in at Centennial park boat ramp (st johns bridge) and paddled down to the nice sand beach at the base of Swan Island. After a few beers and some grub the night paddle back to the put in was excellent!

Have fun!

Roger

Oh yeah, didn't really mention that our trips were all in relatively high and fast water over the month of may. This time of year the river will be much lower and you might find more camp spots but there will there will way more people I'd expect, and some areas might be quite shallow. But ya know the only way to find out is to go check it out!

Roger's description of the WRT jives with the info I have gotten back from others. PDX actually has a lot of nice flatwater within easy driving distance, with the Columbia being the big banana. The Columbia, away from PDX, is surprisingly wild, as Roger details for the Willamette. I think we see less of the party-hearty crowd down here, but they are around here and there when summer comes along. Small towns on the /Columbia often have a river focus that is very refreshing. Ones to check out: Skamokawa, Cathlamet, St. Helens, and of course my burg.

You can't miss, starkmojo.

I actually bought my Kayak in Skamokawa from a post on the kayak centers BB. I am not ready for the kind of chop I saw at the juncture of Skamokawa Slough and the river yet, but I had enough fun to look at and buy my Kayak there. Something to work up to no doubt.