Welch Island lies across the channel from Skamokawa in the middle of the Columbia River, a large low expanse of tidal marsh and cottonwood forest intersected by countless hidden sloughs. Once the home of salmon seiners, it now is part of the Lewis & Clark National Wildlife Refuge. Bird life is abundant, including nesting bald eagles. To the west a broad vista stretches out toward the ocean.

We will paddle around Welch Island and explore some of its sloughs before stopping for lunch on neighboring Tenasillahe Island. Tenasillahe, once the site of a Wahkiakum village, is now a part of the Julia Butler Hansen refuge. The endangered Columbian white-tailed deer, which the refuge was created to protect, can often be seen from the hiking trail that follows the dike around the island. We will walk some of the trail before crossing back to Skamokawa at slack tide.

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