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Expedition 2002

By Pat Harbine

They all came this way! Lewis and Clark in canoes in l805, David Thompson in canoes in l809, M.L Lorain in a row boat in 1921, Robin Cody in a solo canoe in1995, countless other unreported adventurers, and now us!

Wednesday, May 15 (Day 1) We all knew the drill! A year before we had left Columbia Falls 750 miles upstream and we were eager to finish this section. Leaving Pasco at 8am. the current from the Snake River quickly vanished into the slack water of the Columbia. The river was a mile wide with 320 miles ahead of us. Whose idea was this? The only boat on the river was the tug whose path we sprinted across. We would see it several times as it gathered barges for its downstream run. Wide rivers suck wind and all day we worried that the light winds would increase but they didn't. A trashy sight on the Washington bank was the only site we found that was not covered by railroad fill and it sufficed for lunch. Separating in two groups, one seeking the safety of the Oregon shore and the other a more direct route. We all met at Hat Rock at 4pm. Four boaters in two tandems opted to continue the remaining 9 miles to McNary Dam. It's cold in the desert and I didn't sleep!

Thursday, May 16 (Day 2) We launched at Plymouth below the dam with 3 tandems and a single. The day was hot with little wind. Two officious deputies noted our lunch stop on the island and warned us that it was illegal to stop at game sanctuaries. It was a very long hot day to Crow Butte, a site that will haunt us for the rest of our days. Their computers were down so they couldn't verify our reservations. They could, however, relate all the rules and regulations which were very restrictive to people in tents.

Friday, May 17 (Day 3) (starting two and a half hours after midnight) What they didn't tell us came as a sudden surprise at 2:30am. A large commercial sprinkler head began pulsing directly under my mattress. My sleepy brain couldn't comprehend the new sensation but blocking the flow soon flooded my campmates too. They arose and bodily off the sprinkler head, which released a torrent of water on all of us. Inky black darkness and streams of water everywhere, we retreated, they to the beach and me to the car. Daylight brought wind and rain as four-foot waves and whitecaps stretched across the river for miles downstream. Using a tactic only available to groups with excess of vehicles we drove downstream to Roosevelt, Washington. Using umbrellas and wind power we surfed the large waves and followed seas back to Crow Butte in a few hours. A second run upwind gained another 10 miles of distance and we were ahead of schedule. We camped at Mary Hill and ate at Biggs Junction with the truckers.

Saturday, May 18 (Day 4) Launching at Mary Hill, just below John Day Dam we found our efforts of the previous day managed to advance our schedule by a full day and we would make it to Horse Thief Park on the Washington side by nightfall. Two of the boaters elected to stop a few miles short at Descutes on the Oregon side, where we all planned to camp. Native fishermen at the Horse Thief launch were anxious to sell us a large salmon, which became a late meal for most of us. Retrieving our parked vehicles from upstream and across the river delayed arrivals of some travelers until 10pm. We turned in with dripping clothes hanging from the boats and trailer.

Sunday, May 19 (Day 5) An early launch below the Dalles Dam sped our vessels along on the current and blessed by rainy but windless weather we arrived at Hood River. The Rust's daughter shuttled the drivers back to their upstream vehicles. We accepted the offer of a roof and a dry house at Jon Rust's. The dinner in a restaurant, hot showers and freshly washed clothes made for a comfortable stay in this busy little town.

Monday, May 20 (Day 6) Launching at Hood River Beach as hundreds of disappointed wind-surfers headed home did not bother us nor did the occasional drizzle of rain. The winds, which we feared, were absent. There was some dissention about our take-out and a re-launch to gain extra miles but the loss of time prompted an early retreat at Beacon Rock The rain kept things wet but also kept the mosquitoes away. Bud Smith and his ukulele led a campsite sing-along and the weary paddlers hit the sack after another portion of M.R.E.'s (meals ready to eat).

Tuesday, May 21 (Day 7) Now safely around Bonneville Dam, and absent 3 paddlers who wisely decided to leave the trip early, we were ready to start the day. Jon Rust, who paddled with his father, as Marion paddled in my boat, joined us. Ted Lowe and his trusty G.P.S. led us through the relatively peaceful water with a moderate current to Tomahawk Island in Vancouver. We would leave our boats on a secure dock for the evening, then head for the R.V. Park. City ordinances don't allow tent sites in the city so we had to go to a hotel. My son Kevin, who would join us for a few days, drove up just as we made the decision to stay in a Holiday Inn nearby. They also had a restaurant and a sports bar.

Wednesday, May 22 (Day 8) Consuming the free breakfast at the motel fueled several hours of heartburn. I knew better! It was good to have my son and a powerful paddler in my boat. The current remained to assist us and the brief squalls of rain were no problem. We opted to avoid the extra 19 miles of the Multanough Slough and took the main channel of the Columbia instead. The boat and barge traffic was far less than we expected and we were able to do long point-to-point crossings within the shipping channels safely by keeping a sharp lookout for traffic. We arrived at St. Helen's in a vigorous rainstorm and found refuge in a seafood restaurant just before the crowd invaded it! Naturally we ate, we do that best!

Our camp was four miles upstream but two boaters had performed the shuttle and picked us up. After setting up camp in a vacant picnic shelter we went to Vancouver to retrieve the vehicles. We were amazed how busy the surface traffic was compared to our relatively easy passage on the water. Another M.R.E. that night, but we were dry under a roof once more. One vehicle with room for three drivers was moved downstream to Willow Grove past Longview to serve as a shuttle for the next day.

Thursday, May 23 (Day 9) Launching from our campground near the town of Skapoose, we paddled the four miles to St. Helens and back onto the Columbia with all three-tandem boats in action. The cooling tower of the idled Trojan nuclear plant dominated the horizon for many miles and we passed on through Longview and finally intoWillow Bay on the Washington side of the river. Kevin's car took the drivers back upstream to Skapoose to retrieve the vehicles from the Oregon side and bring them to the boaters waiting on the beach and bring them to camp. Another car was taken to Skamockawa(scam-mock-a-way) that evening to perform the next days shuttle. Another freeze dried supper.

Friday, May 24 (Day 10) A quick shuttle of a car to mid-point and a 6am.launch and all 3 tandems hit the water, but there was a problem! The rudder controls on my boat fell apart and our schedule was too tight to take time to fix it as we were using a receding tide window to augment our progress. The wide tandem was difficult to hold on course without the rudder and when the car with the single kayak was sighted at mid point to our destination we decided I would continue alone. It took my best efforts to draft behind the faster tandems until we reached Skamakama. Fast sprints would allow me to catch up and careful handling to place the bow of my boat a foot or two behind their sterns required intense focus but saved considerable energy. The tide had brought us to our destination at 11am., now it had changed, the high tide would persist for at least two hours until it would recede again. The upstream vehicles were retrieved and over a very late breakfast a new plan was hatched.

Why not use the receding tide? It began at 1PM pulling us out through the islands Tongue Point or the costal John Day River. Another broken rudder control almost upset the plan but the repair was only 15 minutes. Soon we were underway, two tandems and the single. The outer route leading to Tongue Point was very rough as the outgoing tide and offshore wind combined to form large waves. Ted's caution and the GPS allowed us to find the channels along the Oregon shore and work our way past them in order: Horseshoe, Marsh, Karlson, Milwalker and Swenson and protection from the wind. Kevin had gone ahead and met us 4 hours later at the John Day River boat launch. A long ride along the Oregon shore and across to Washington side on the Cathlamet (like dammit ) Ferry brought us to the lodge just before dark, My trailer light had failed to work for the entire trip and I was worried! Liver and Onions filled my belly at the restaurant that night and a box spring replaced my comfy air mattress that had blown out of the car top carrier and been run over earlier that day.

Saturday, May 25 (Day 10) Long before daylight, without breakfast, we drove to Astoria and had breakfast we went back to the John Day Landing for our last leg of the trip. Ted opted to drive our shuttle rig and we made an 8AM departure paddling out onto a calm bay under an overcast sky. We were soon around Tongue Point and could see the 2 mile long bridge in the distance .We could feel the strong pull of the incoming tide as we passed under the bridge, trying to tug us back but we were there! 10 AM we had timed it very close, any thoughts of paddling on to Ft. Clackamas were abandoned . We wanted to go home. We covered the distance in 10 days, Thompson took 12 and Lewis and Clark longer. Traveling home for the next 6 hours gave us all time to reflect on what we had done. 1100 miles upstream, at Columbia Falls, we had begun this adventure and had become interdependent on each other for most of the thirty five total days spent in completing it.

I would like to recognize those who shared the trip with me. Bud and Joyce Smith of Sandpoint Bob and Marian Rust of Sandpoint Pat Tormey of Sandpoint John Rust of Hood River Kevin Harbine of Bellingham Dick Rivers of Spokane Ted Lowe of Spokane.

I am grateful for their assistance and friendship through this long and trying journey! Someday when the pain stops we will look back and remember this as an achievement others may envy. Then again we may wonder--why we did it!