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| Columbia and Willamette River cruising https://www.smwebhead.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6711 |
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| Author: | Desert Steve [ Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Columbia and Willamette River cruising |
My wife and I are considering spending 3-5 days cruising the Columbia River, perhaps Portland to Astoria and return. We may also include a trip down the Willamette. Has anyone on the Forum cruised this area? What are the overnight moorage facilities like? Fuel availability? etc.? Can one go through the locks on the Willamette? Any comments will be appreciated. Thank you, |
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| Author: | bndfishing [ Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Columbia and Willamette River cruising |
I live in the area and cruise it almost every weekend. There is fuel in several spots around Hayden Island, at Rocky Point Marina in the Multnomah Channel and at St. Helens. Cruising this area can be a lot of fun. If you are going up the Willamette toward Portland the options for guest moorage is pretty slim and it's not very private. Government Island above the 205 bridge has some nice public docks and is a quiet place. There is guest moorage available at several places around Hayden Island but you need to call the moorages and arrange to stay. There are several on the water cafes at Hayden Island, shopping, fuel, ice and access to public transportation if you want to go into Portland. From Hayden Island going down stream in the Columbia you really don't have much until you get to St. Helens about a 17 mile run. Going up stream into the Willamette you can take a right had turn into the Multnomah Channel (28 miles long) which is a great place to cruise and overnight. There is fuel, food, and a moorage at Fred's marina just after you enter the channel. The first public dock is Hadleys landing about 5-6 miles downstream, this is a free public dock and there is a 3 mile trail you can hike from the dock. The docks are wooden the water is deep the only down side is that they are accessible by the public and some of the Russians like to fish there. They don't bother the boaters but they kind of make a mess of the dock. Continuing downstream you will come to Rocky Point Marina, they have fuel, food, water, pump outs and moorage From there you will reach Scappoose moorage and the restaurant Mark's on the Channel, there are pump outs and great food and a bar. If you are a Yacht Club member you could arrange guest moorage at the Multnomah Channel Yacht Club just down from Mark's. These guys are really friendly and give all yacht clubs reciprocity. After leaving Scappoose you will arrive at Coon Island, there is an east and west dock. The East side is very nice with new concrete docks. This is our favorite place to go, there is a great trail around the island, fire pits, picnic tables, it's quiet and fun this time of year you won't find many people. If the coon island yacht club is there you will be offered food, booze, and jello shots. Down from Coon Island 2 miles is the Gilbert Docks these are public, not that great but you will be alone here. 5 more miles to St. Helens and there are 2 options. The St. Helens public docks where you can walk around town or the Sand Island docks on island across from St. Helens. St. Helens is a great destination with several restaurants, a brew pub, movie theater, gas, pump outs, and lots of free guest moorage. From this point you will be in the Columbia River 5 Miles below St. Helens and on the Washington side of the river you come to Martin Island, take the channel around it and you will find the entrance to Martin Lake, there is a yacht club dock here but if they are not there it's open to the public. This is a great area to run around on the dinghy or kayaks. 4 more miles you will reach Goble on the Oregon side and Kalama on the Washington side you can arrange overnight moorage at each with the harbor masters. 6 more miles is Rainer on the Oregon side, they have guest moorage you can walk into town nice place from there it's a run down to Cathlamet on the Washington side, this is a destination for many boaters they have all the amenities. From there you will run down to the Columbia river estuary there are several towns on both the Oregon and Washington side, the weather this time of year may leave something to be desired as the wind can really blow right now and the river can get really nasty with 4-6 wind waves near Astoria. You will want good charts, the Columbia River Cruising Atlas and I would recommend a book called Cleats and Eats http://www.cleatsandeats.com/PortlandPage.html Hope this helps if you are going to make the trip shoot me a PM and we'll exchange contact info, we are in the Channel 2-3 weekends/month. Here are a couple links that might help. http://crya.us/ http://sauvieisland.org/visitor-informa ... -kayaking/ http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/library/docs ... e.pdf?ga=t |
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