June 16th: Below Lower Monumental Dam to Sand Station
Interesting day. It started out relatively peacefully with a nice morning paddle to Ice Harbor Dam. The portage around the dam was about a mile. The takeout was easy but I found no boat ramp to put in at below the dam, rather it became another climb down over a rocky shoreline. As I paddle towards the Tri-Cities area I notice a lot more farming along both sides of the river with massive well pumps every mile or so pumping water from the Snake River to the fields. The call this area Palouse Country, whatever that means.
By noon I make it to the confluence of the Columbia in the Tri-Cities area. Everything has gone well all morning. Very little wind and just a nice cool day for paddling. I got my first hint that the afternoon will be the total opposite when I tried to take a short cut from the main channel and got hung up on one sandbar after another. It took a good 15 to minutes to get through. Twice I had to get out and pull my canoe over a variety of sandbars. Once clear I next needed to get down and around the wide open lake area which stretches south and then west of the Tri-Cities. I thought I had it all figured out, but after an hour of paddling I realized I was going too far south and was about to miss my turn west. To me it looked like I needed to go around a huge grain dock at the far end of this massive bay, but instead I should have started across the lake almost immediately when I made my turn off the Snake. Now I must cross the widest part of this lake, which looks like it is over two miles wide. In my notes it talked about this area being very dangerous because the winds can come up quickly. Reason this thought crossed my mind was because the winds were coming up a little more than quickly! By the time I was in the middle of this bay, whitecaps were beginning to form and I was approximately a mile from either shore. After paddling for close to another hour (a paddle that should have taken 15 minutes) I make it to the west shoreline and start to follow that shoreline around a 90 degree corner of the Columbia. Even though I'm somewhat protected by the rock wall along this shoreline, paddling is extremely tough.
I also notice one sailboat, with motor running, heading very fast to the Tri-Cities area and on the far shoreline a couple more heading to Walla Walla Yacht Club marina. I realize I'm the only one left on the water and I'm on the far northwest side of the river with nothing but a tall riprap of rock wall for miles in both directions. Well, I continue to paddle close to shore, hoping that when I complete the west turn things will get better. Not the case, they were getting worse which became very obvious when I notice this unusual block of wood lodged in the rocky riprap on the shoreline that I thought I passed a minute or so ago. Which turned out to be the case, for I was paddling as hard as I could and I was losing ground! I was going backwards.
Decision time. I could stay on this rock cliff side and wait it out or I could try and make it over to the other side. I thought back to the Lake Sakakawea incident when I almost lost everything including my life (forgot to mention that then). After assessing the situation I figured I would try to get across. Why do that? Well, here I felt I was in more control of the situation than I was on Lake Sakakawea. There's a car on the far shoreline driving back and forth watching me so I figure if I do dump someone will know it. Second, the water is much warmer so hypothermia should not be an issue. Plus the number one reason: I had to try! So off I went! I paddled as much as I could at a 45 degree angle into the waves. Which quickly became impossible. (By the way I figure it to be about 3/4 of a mile across.) So I decided on paddling as fast as I could, parallel with the waves and as the big ones came I turned to go with them and let them carry me like a surfboard. Out in the middle as I was doing the surfing technique I could look straight down and I mean straight down at the lower part of the wave which seemed a good 10 feet below me. It was a very serious situation, but I must say, just to ease the tension, at one point I thought, "I wonder what kind of style points they are giving me on shore." This worked well except when every so often two waves would come almost at the same time. Twice I thought I was going over but somehow managed not to. Well, I made it across and that car that was watching left when I was within 50 feet of the shore, knowing I was out of harm's way. I was hoping to thank the person, but he/she probably thought they'd wasted enough time with this idiot!
Well, I got everything out of my canoe, emptied out the water and put my trailer together for what I figured was going to be a very tough, into the wind 20 mile bike portage to the nearest camping area, Sand Station, which is east of Umatilla, OR.
Later that evening after arriving at the park I was informed the winds were gusting over 45 miles an hour and were expected to last through the next day. Now I really am glad I made the decision to cross over the lake. Even more glad the day is over.
Now I must figure out where to store my gear and how I'm going to get to Portland. I figure my paddling is over so I'm thinking I will bike portage as far as I can tomorrow morning, keeping an eye out for a storage unit where I may be able to keep my gear.
Well, that's for tomorrow. Right now I need a good night's rest after a very interesting day!
By noon I make it to the confluence of the Columbia in the Tri-Cities area. Everything has gone well all morning. Very little wind and just a nice cool day for paddling. I got my first hint that the afternoon will be the total opposite when I tried to take a short cut from the main channel and got hung up on one sandbar after another. It took a good 15 to minutes to get through. Twice I had to get out and pull my canoe over a variety of sandbars. Once clear I next needed to get down and around the wide open lake area which stretches south and then west of the Tri-Cities. I thought I had it all figured out, but after an hour of paddling I realized I was going too far south and was about to miss my turn west. To me it looked like I needed to go around a huge grain dock at the far end of this massive bay, but instead I should have started across the lake almost immediately when I made my turn off the Snake. Now I must cross the widest part of this lake, which looks like it is over two miles wide. In my notes it talked about this area being very dangerous because the winds can come up quickly. Reason this thought crossed my mind was because the winds were coming up a little more than quickly! By the time I was in the middle of this bay, whitecaps were beginning to form and I was approximately a mile from either shore. After paddling for close to another hour (a paddle that should have taken 15 minutes) I make it to the west shoreline and start to follow that shoreline around a 90 degree corner of the Columbia. Even though I'm somewhat protected by the rock wall along this shoreline, paddling is extremely tough.
I also notice one sailboat, with motor running, heading very fast to the Tri-Cities area and on the far shoreline a couple more heading to Walla Walla Yacht Club marina. I realize I'm the only one left on the water and I'm on the far northwest side of the river with nothing but a tall riprap of rock wall for miles in both directions. Well, I continue to paddle close to shore, hoping that when I complete the west turn things will get better. Not the case, they were getting worse which became very obvious when I notice this unusual block of wood lodged in the rocky riprap on the shoreline that I thought I passed a minute or so ago. Which turned out to be the case, for I was paddling as hard as I could and I was losing ground! I was going backwards.
Decision time. I could stay on this rock cliff side and wait it out or I could try and make it over to the other side. I thought back to the Lake Sakakawea incident when I almost lost everything including my life (forgot to mention that then). After assessing the situation I figured I would try to get across. Why do that? Well, here I felt I was in more control of the situation than I was on Lake Sakakawea. There's a car on the far shoreline driving back and forth watching me so I figure if I do dump someone will know it. Second, the water is much warmer so hypothermia should not be an issue. Plus the number one reason: I had to try! So off I went! I paddled as much as I could at a 45 degree angle into the waves. Which quickly became impossible. (By the way I figure it to be about 3/4 of a mile across.) So I decided on paddling as fast as I could, parallel with the waves and as the big ones came I turned to go with them and let them carry me like a surfboard. Out in the middle as I was doing the surfing technique I could look straight down and I mean straight down at the lower part of the wave which seemed a good 10 feet below me. It was a very serious situation, but I must say, just to ease the tension, at one point I thought, "I wonder what kind of style points they are giving me on shore." This worked well except when every so often two waves would come almost at the same time. Twice I thought I was going over but somehow managed not to. Well, I made it across and that car that was watching left when I was within 50 feet of the shore, knowing I was out of harm's way. I was hoping to thank the person, but he/she probably thought they'd wasted enough time with this idiot!
Well, I got everything out of my canoe, emptied out the water and put my trailer together for what I figured was going to be a very tough, into the wind 20 mile bike portage to the nearest camping area, Sand Station, which is east of Umatilla, OR.
Later that evening after arriving at the park I was informed the winds were gusting over 45 miles an hour and were expected to last through the next day. Now I really am glad I made the decision to cross over the lake. Even more glad the day is over.
Now I must figure out where to store my gear and how I'm going to get to Portland. I figure my paddling is over so I'm thinking I will bike portage as far as I can tomorrow morning, keeping an eye out for a storage unit where I may be able to keep my gear.
Well, that's for tomorrow. Right now I need a good night's rest after a very interesting day!
posted by Coach at 12:04 PM
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