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We just booked our Labor Day weekend trip, lucked out and found an open site at Chief Timothy Park on the Snake River (between WA & ID). The google map image looks like a lot of fun, the campground & boat launch are located on a small island in the river. Any chance anyone has boated this area before, any advice? I'm going to go talk with friends that have been there, I've looked at the NOAA charts and I don't see any major danger signs, but new area always makes me a tad nervous.

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2007 Four Winns 190 Horizon Merc 4.3 MPI

Our boat on Crescent Lake in Oregon

Dear Y-Guy

I am at work right now but will try to get out my chart book for the Snake River around the Chief Timothy area and see if there are any danger signs. If I see any, I will get back on line and let you know.

Have a great trip.

Steve, that would be greatly appreciated. I looked online but frankly it was tough to understand the area much. I'd like to cruise to Lewiston/Clarkston and up river but I'm apprehensive about boating in unknown rivers like the Snake.

Have you boated that way at all?

Thanks!

Steve

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2007 Four Winns 190 Horizon Merc 4.3 MPI

Our boat on Crescent Lake in Oregon

Hey there, Steve:

I just got home from work and realized that my chart book is in my boat - I will have to get back to you tomorrow. However, I have looked at the charts from the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers all the way to above Lewiston and I don't remember any particular hazards. I have contemplated the trip but I have yet to work up the nerve to go through a lock. That said, I would certainly pay attention to the navigation aids and you will be OK. Because of the dams and the generally steep banks the water is usually relatively deep. I boat mostly on the Columbia but have been above Ice Harbor Dam on two or three occasions all the way to the next dam without any concern about hazards - I just kept in the navigation channel.

The only issue would be if you want to anchor, etc. in a bay and you would want to confirm the potential for hazards. I have boated in the Lewiston area once and there were no issues with rocks, etc. I can't remember exactly but I seem to remember that the channel goes several miles upstream from Lewiston. Of course, jetboats go up many miles - but they are flat bottom, jet drive boats.

Anyway, I will look at the charts and get back to you.

BTW, the chart book I have is for the Columbia, Snake and Willamette Rivers. There was a used copy on Amazon for ~$40 recently. Mine copy was used but was in immaculate condition.

Best wishes for a great time.

Steve

Dear Ducky:

I finally looked at my charts and there are no obvious navigation hazards from the downstream dam up to Lewiston, provided you are in the 'main channel'. There are shallow areas in a few places (canyon mouths, etc.) but not in unexpected areas. The same applies for a few miles above Lewiston, but the channel is much narrower and there are more obstructions near shore.

I would avoid going out of the park to the east - it is shallower than the west entrance. The shallowest depth on the chart is 7 ft so you may be OK. as they say, refer to local knowledge.

I just noticed the big "O" by your name and must tell you that I have close ties to the Beavers. I am an alumnus, an employee and a tuition payer to the big orange "O".

Have a great vacation and don't forget -- Go Beavers.

Benny aka Steve thanks for looking the area up in your chart books. I'll be sure to talk to some other boaters to see what areas to avoid too. I kept looking for a brew pub or restaurant on the river down in Lewiston/Clarkston we could boat to, so far only one appears to be close. Would appear its passable, we'll watch the channel markers if we do head down.

A Beav huh? Well I have a bunch of Beaver Believer Friends... though after the last two Civil Wars a few of them wont talk Football anymore with me. I'm a Duck alum as well, I grew up in Eugene and stayed around for college, worked for the U of 0 while working on my MS, sadly Measure 5 caused them to axe my entire college/department and moved it to OSU. If my son keeps going the way he's talking he might be going to OSU to major nuclear engineering, thankfully I have a few more years before I face that issue... at least he's not looking to be a Husky!

Going to be an interesting football season to say the least, with the freakin' idiots that got booted this past year its going to be interesting to see how the team does. I was able to make it over for the U$C game and the Civil War game... both were probably two of the most fun and hotly contested games I've ever been to.

Go Ducks!

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2007 Four Winns 190 Horizon Merc 4.3 MPI

Our boat on Crescent Lake in Oregon

Hey, the Ducks have nothing on us Beavers. I see where a 19 year old Beaver lineman just got found naked and drunk in a stranger's home and had to be tazed by the police to subdue him after he tried to tackle them. And let us not forget the infamous 'sheep stealing' a few years ago.

Seriously, I cheer for the Ducks all year except for the Civil War, and was disappointed to hear about the misadventures of a few players.

What was your major that was lost to OSU? We lost our journalism school about the time I was in school at Corvallis. I enjoy some good-natured teasing re sports but the O is a great school and I have had the opportunity to entertain both Dave Frohnmeyer and Richard L. (forgive me the spelling) in Pendleton and was impressed by both of them.

Have a great time on the River.

I'm a Recreation major, which they called Leisure Studies & Services (yeah I got a lot of razzing for that). I think the dropped the J school and left it at the UofO as I recall. In all actuality the move made some sense, but when the dropped it they also dropped the Phys Ed, Dance and several other programs which were all in the top 10 in the country.

Dave Frohnmeyer is a good man, I knew him when I worked at the Y in Eugene, the family was members of the Y and played at the tennis center. God knows that man and his family have had more than their share of heartache. I campaigned for Dave during one of his runs for Governor along with my mom and I think he was a good, but maybe not great President for the UofO.

Like you I root for the Beavs except when they play the Ducks, I also root for the Cougs, but just can't get me to root for the Huskies.

Thanks, looking forward to getting away and giving the Snake a run, hope the weather warms up again. If you make it up this way let me know, maybe we can meet at Clover Island at Ice Harbor Brewing and I'll buy you one.

Steve

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2007 Four Winns 190 Horizon Merc 4.3 MPI

Our boat on Crescent Lake in Oregon

Don't worry about the name of your major - I was a Park and Rec Resources major at Michigan State University for two years before I changed majors to Soil Science. It does make sense for U of O to specialize in some fields and OSU to specialize in other fields. It makes no sense to me for there to be schools 40 miles apart with overlapping majors, etc.

The weather is supposed to be warmer later this week - let's hope it holds through your time on the River.

Best wishes,

Hey there Duck Fan:

How was your weekend at Chief Timothy? We had cool and windy weather in Pendleton on Saturday and Sunday, but Monday was OK. No boating for us as we were entertaining two of six Japanese High School students who are visiting Pendleton for two weeks. My daughter spent 3 weeks in Japan in July and now it is our turn to host the Japanese students. Our students are great - polite, friendly, good sense of humor - we feel quite blessed to have them stay with us.

Round_Up week starts on Saturday and we are all getting our boots polished and our hats blocked.

As they say Let 'er Buck,

Hey Steve,

Well that windy weather put a damper on the trip, we only got in about 4 hours of boating all weekend and pulled the boat out early Sunday afternoon. Friday my youngest and I launched the boat, great boat launch with 4 bays and even area for water and pump out too. Nobody was at the launch so we took our time and filled the motorhome with water and prepped the boat. My 12yo did a great job helping me launch the boat, backing the boat with a motorhome isn't ideal but so far I've had no problems. We zipped around the island and found an open dock to tie off to, later we headed down the Snake to Clarkston - I was a bit surprised how non-boat friendly the down was, I guess I just expected to see a few more boat docks open for visitors. Fishing was in full force and there were probably 30 boats where the rivers meet, we boated down the Snake between Lewiston & Clarkston but it was busy with tubes & wake boards so we decided to head back before dark. On the way down I nearly came in contact with a 8' long log that was probably 6" in diameter, dodged it by about 10' - I never was able to find it again but sure made me nervous on my way back up.

Saturday we got out late morning for some tubing with all the kids/friends and had a blast, several boats were out doing the same but we were all able to find enough river for us without dodging each other all the time. We went in for lunch and by 2PM the winds were in full force, 15MPH to 25MPH so we sat it out. I kept checking the boat as I didn't much care for the dock, but by the end of the weekend only came away with 2 small marks that should rub out. We went out for 30 minutes on Sunday, winds were very chilly and white caps were popping up so we went in and told my wife I was tossing in the towel and decided to pull the boat out, just couldn't see getting in anymore boating and it was killing me having it up against the dock.

Overall the park was very nice, its on our list to go back to next summer, probably in July or August when it warms up. Several sites along the river with full power/hookup's as well as easy dock access would made it a great place to return. With Clarkston just a short drive away it's a nice place to vacation. I would like to have had more time to explore up and down the river.

Congats on the Students, we've had Rotary Exchange students from Japan, Bolivia and Slovakia over the past few years and before that we've had students from Russia, NZ, England, Ireland & Hungary too. Both my boys really miss having exchange kids in our home, hopefully next year. We nearly got one from Lebanon last week, but he wasn't going to the same HS as my oldest so transportation would have been a pain. I spent a summer in Japan and another in Korea, really enjoyed working in both countries. Our last student from Japan was a real experience, her English was far below the information we were given and she was a tad rough around the edges, but with any exchange students its always an experience.

Have a blast at the Round up, I'm not sure we're going to make it over that way this year, though planning a trip to Ukiah for some ATV riding in a month or so.

I'll get some photos of Chief Timothy up in the next couple of days.

Hey I'm counting on the Beavs to take out Boise... tough loss against TCU.

Stee

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2007 Four Winns 190 Horizon Merc 4.3 MPI

Our boat on Crescent Lake in Oregon