Washington Kayak

We have spent the last few days paddling around some fantastic rivers in Washington, Below is just a small snap shot of what we have been up to. We were joined by fellow UK boaters Dave and Sharon.

The White Salmon, Husum Falls Section.

Simon

Sharon

Cheryl

Cave Kayaking!!

The Wind River

Si on the Fish ladder...not as easy as it looks!!

Sharon running a class VI drop.

Cheryl showing how not to run a Waterfall.

David

Si running the waterfall correctly.

Relaxing in Hot Springs after a hard days paddling

White Salmon - Green Truss Section

Simon running Little Brother

David

David

New Portage around the Lower Zig Zag on the Green Truss

David and Sharon have uploaded some cool video of our recent boating adventures here is the link http://www.travellingkayak.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=31

Portland and Paddling

Portland, Oregon. We self invited ourselves to stay with Si's friend Tiff.

Tiff has recently moved into a mansion by most peoples standards. The gorgeous house on the outskirts of Portland proved a great base for a few days of tourism round Portland. We (I made them) visit the Chinese gardens where we had a traditional tea ceremony...pretty cool but all very strange when your in serene gardens but can hear and see the city traffic and skyline.

After a few very spoiled days with Tiff we had (I had to be forcibly removed) to leave and get back in to the paddling groove.. ( she has a swimming pool as a bath tub!!! )

We found ourselves on the Washington Oregon border, meeting up with Dave and Sharon and paddling the White Salmon yesterday and today

This afternoon Si and David are paddling the Little White Salmon while Sharon I check out the local brewery and their happy hour.... $1 Appitizers and cheap pints...who knows what state I'll be in when the guys get back

Been, Seal and Dune it all.

Much to our dismay Oregon has lacked the Whitewater froth we have been searching for.
Instead we decided to head up the Oregon coast and maybe seek out some tidal surf.
With a free guide in our hand our first stop was a huge heard of elk grazing at the side of the road. A few them tried to disguise themselves as bushes in the long grass..
Traveling along the recommend route of 101(which also just happens to be a Tsunami evac area) Florence was our first port of civilization a small old port town, that has seen better days if it weren’t for constant tourists buying up tat and taffy.
In search of huge Sand dunes (that are supposed to be apparent) we came across a lovely beachy area where the seas and dunes spread for miles (reminded me a lot of Roan head at home in the UK). One quick dip of the foot in the water quickly dispersed any ideas we had of going surfing…Artic Baltic!!
We woke the next morning to down pours, and a small glimmer of hope that rivers might just come up…but NO!!.
Looking for indoor activities we arrived at the Sea lion Cave, the biggest sea cave in the world and home to 100’s of seal and seal lions. This amazing insight into colonies of seals and sea lions was interesting to say the least. Imagine a stinky fish market filled with 100 adolescent boys all trying to fart and out burp each other, yes it is exactly like that. The Size of the Sea lions is amazing and the bulls can easily weigh up to a ton.
Oregon’s Aquarium was supposed to provide our next shelter instead we spent most of it outside watching the sea otters be fed and swim about their tank. These adorable animals are delightful to watch. Just seeing the otters was worth the entrance fee. But other attractions included a giant Octopus, a massive shark tank, which include two divers while we were there. A huge amount of very large crabs and a touch pool where you could touch starfish.
Our final indoor activity was Tilimook cheese factory… all I can say it ain’t as good as Cabot!!
We are now in Portland Oregon, update to follow…

North California to Southern Oregon

Over the past week we have traveled through northern California and into Southern Oregon. After spending two great months in California, it was finally time to move on, but not before paddling a couple of classic runs in Northern California.

First up was the Burnt Range gorge on the Trinity river. I’d (Simon) paddled this on my previous trip to California, and only remembered the three class 5 ‘Burnt ranch falls rapids’. Well it turns out that there are many other good class 4 drops that I’d forgotten about.


The next day we paddled the Cal Salmon, another run I’d previously paddled. Unfortunately the levels were pretty low on this one. Probably about as low as you’d ever want to paddle it. (or maybe even lower). Plenty of rocky rapids, but some really good gorge sections, overall made it worth paddling. I was biking back up the run to get the van, and had made it half way up, before realizing that the van keys were still in my PFD at the takeout…. DOH


The Cal Salmon was to be our last Californian river, as we headed into Oregon. We had arranged to meet the Jeanne Skalka, the sister of one of our Vermont friends Chris, for a paddle on the Umpqua river. This was a scenic class 3 run with some fun playspots. We had a great day, with Cheryl and Jeanne sharing many women’s kit and boat ideas.

We also bumped into Dave and Sharon again on the Umpqua.

A plan was set to paddled the North Fork of the Rogue the next day, which we had seen on the way to the Umpqua. The Takilma gorge section of the Rogue turned out to be a great run. Walled in and committing, with a number of good class 4 rapids.

Taking a day off paddling we visited the nearby Crater lake, which is possibly one of the most scenic places we’ve ever been to. An enormous collapsed volcano containing a deep blue lake in the crater. Just the thing for a Dr Evil hidden base, except it is a national park.

A short stop at the scenic Toketee falls completed the day.

We’re now exploring more of Oregon before heading to the White and Little White Salmon rivers and Portland.

Upper Cherry the return

After a few days in San Jose, we were eager to boat again. Marc was especially eager to paddle Upper Cherry. How could we refuse....

Water levels were a concern, but we hoped that the soaring temperatures woudl bring the levels up from our last run. But hopefully not too high.

We headed up to Cherry Lake, and sent Kev on a reconnaissance run over to the bottom drops. A long time later he returned with a tale of woe, low levels - not worth it. Despite Kevs warnings, Marc and I had already decided we would paddle anyway, and a plan B was formed. Hike directly into Cherry Bomb, and bypass all the scrapey stuff at the top.

Hiking with your boat is not fun. Don't believe anyone who says it is....

Plan B seemed to make sense, until we were hiking and boat dragging through thick snake infested jungle down to the river. All in all it took longer to get to the halfway point than it would to have gone to the top. I only saw one rattlesnake on the hike down, but I’m sure there were many more, just inches from my legs as we trashed through the thick undergrowth….

The hike over the top to Cherry bomb gorge

Spot the pro-boater

We were joined by a random US paddler Dieter, in the parking lot, but he turned out to be a nice chap… We also ran into Shannon Caroll, who had hiked solo into Cherry bomb also…. We hit up Cherry bomb the next evening, after a few hours rest from the arduous hike in. We needn’t have worried about the levels, they were absolutely superb for the gorges…

Cherry Bomb gorge from up high

Dieter dropping cherry bomb - blurry but you get the general idea...

Awesome teacup falls above camp

The next day, We ran down from flintstone camp to the take out, Shannon proved why she’s one of the worlds best women boaters by showing us all up and running Kiwi in a pocked and Big bear falls while we “provided safety”

Kev and Shannon on the waterfall

Kev on Double pothole

Shannon dropping into Kiwi in a pocket

Shannon on Big bear falls

Weather being warmer than last time (i.e. it wasn’t snowing, just 90’F temps) there were a lot of hikers and even some adventurous tubers on the river. We didn’t stick around to see if they survived….

Cheryl was hiking down the bank, and had a much harder time than we did on her descent of the river.


Another grueling hike in, but it was so worth it for the amazing granite gorges that Upper Cherry holds in store.

Running the final drops out to the lake

Kev and Marc departed back for San Jose, Cheryl and I are heading back to Reno for some play before heading north for the Cal Salmon and Klamath, then Oregon.