This winter paddle vacation package will begin with dinner Monday evening followed by program presenting the history of Skamokawa and discussing the paddling plans for the week. Four nights lodging and eleven meals will be included along with three full days of kayaking. Our paddling routes are excellent for wildlife.  In early spring bird life is abundant, including tundra swans, loons, and bald eagles.

Day One. We will start out in Deep River and follow the outgoing tide downriver into Gray's Bay, called "Shallow Bay" by Lewis and Clark. We will paddle out through the west side of the bay to the Columbia River, passing "Cape Swell," now called Portuguese Point, where Lewis and Clark first encountered the heavy ocean swell that slowed their progress to a crawl. We will paddle downriver to Knappton Cove for lunch, where there used to be a large sawmill until it burned in the 1940s. After lunch amongst the old pilings of the mill, we will return to Deep River with the incoming tide.

Day Two. We will start out at the Skamokawa Center dock, and head directly out into the river. We will follow the tide downriver past the old towns of Bayview, Rockland and Brookfield, where there used to be salmon canneries. We will pass the old native summer fishing village Chakwyalham and head downriver to a rock arch near Altoona, WA for lunch. Here the river is wide and filled with large sandbars and small islands. After lunch and with the turning tide, we will return to Skamokawa.

Day Three. The third day of paddling will begin at County Line Park, at the eastern boundary of Wahkiakum County, and take the outgoing tide downriver, past Puget Island and the basalt cliffs above Cathlamet, which host several magnificent waterfalls, up to 90 feet in height. We will paddle past the Cathlamet waterfront and the Brusco Tug and Barge Company's docks, where some kind of work is almost always going on. We will eat lunch on a sandy beach on the river side of the Hunting Islands, and after lunch continue downriver to finish the trip at Skamokawa Center.

Any of these trips may be shortened or altered due to weather or river conditions. These trips are not intended for beginners. In the interest of safety for all those involved, we do require that participants be in good health, have paddled a trip of at least 8 miles at least twice in the last 9 months, and have practiced capsizing and exiting their kayak in the last year. Pool sessions for capsize practice are offered twice a month at the Astoria, Oregon municipal swimming pool through Columbia River Kayaking.

The Lower Columbia River is an important area in the Pacific Flyway. Wintering waterfowl reach peaks of more than 200,000 birds. Of the 800 regularly occurring North American birds, over 200 species use the food and habitat of the Lower Columbia and estuary.

Back to Tours main page