 |
 |
Spring and Summer: Adult | |
| Kayaking the Lower Columbia River |
13322: Spring Kayaking the Lower Columbia
River: Wildlife, Wildflowers, and Waterfalls
Spring is the most beautiful time of year on the Lower Columbia. The cliffs along the Lower Gorge begin to bloom with cliff larkspur, spring-gold, and red flowering currant. The waterfalls that plunge 90 feet to the river are charged with winter rains. Migrating birds in bright breeding plumage pass through, and sea lions come up the river in pursuit of the spring salmon runs. We will paddle through a wide variety of habitats that the Lower Columbia offers in a relatively small area - narrow sloughs winding through Sitka spruce swamp, grassy tidal marsh islands, dramatic basalt cliffs, and coastal rainforest. Skamokawa is set at the junction of two National Wildlife Refuges totaling more than 40,000 acres.
Our first day of paddling begins in Skamokawa. We will paddle up historic Steamboat Slough, once an important steamboat thoroughfare and now a quiet spruce-lined waterway of the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge. The oldest trees in the spruce swamp along the route date to the early 1600’s. The slough has several active osprey nests, and the swamps are home to the endangered Columbian white-tailed deer for which the refuge was created. We will have lunch on a scenic beach along the main channel of the Columbia and circle through narrow passages of Elochoman Slough before catching the outgoing tide back to Skamokawa.
On our second day we will explore along the Columbia’s north shore downstream of Skamokawa. In the 1920’s, during the heyday of salmon fishing and logging, there were communities all along here. Over the last several decades the forest has reclaimed this now uninhabited area, where you are likely to see eagles and otters as you paddle through the pilings that once held up canneries and wharves
We will take a break from paddling on our third day to go to Cape Disappointment State Park, where the mighty Columbia meets the ocean. We will take a hike through a remnant of ancient coastal forest bearing spruce up to nine feet in diameter, then take in the newly remodeled Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center atop the cape with panoramic views of the Pacific. Time afterwards can be spent on the beach or at the Ilwaco Heritage Museum.
Our final day on the water will begin in Birnie Slough of Puget Island and return along the Lower Gorge, where multiple flows of basalt have formed dramatic cliffs. The gorge is spectacular in spring with its waterfalls and many unusual wildflowers. Rufous hummingbirds, which nest in shrubs along the cliffs, can be seen nectaring among the wildflowers.
