Paddle Oregon 2017: Part 3 of N

Day 4

Jasper Pod prepares for the day

We had an easy and fun launch in the morning. No big escarpments to cross. No swift waters. Launch our boats, ferry across to the other side and wait for the pod to form up. Then we can start on down the river. It was a little cold this morning. Where is that sun? We grouped up at one point (where there just wasn't a good place to land) to steady each other boats and let some people put on warmer layers. Nice to travel with people who know how to help out like that.

I Ferry across. Don't I look like I know what I am doing? That is good Photography

The big excitement for today is going to be navigating the confluence of the Willamette and Santiam rivers. The Santiam (at this point) is just about as big as the Willamette and will be coming in from the East (River Right). Anytime two medium sized currents come together you can get some jumble and mishmash and our pod leaders don’t have any news on how rough the confluence is today. Might be a big rock bed there also. We have a long paddle today (21 miles) and have been working hard at it for a while when we round the bend and can tell that something is happening up ahead. Our lead boat is a one man canoe, today, and she tells us to string out and follow her so she can guide us through the upcoming turbulence. We start over on the left side of the Willamette and then head across the river intending to go through any little white water there is and right across the Santiam mouth. From the start of the crossing, we can see way across to a large sandbar. There are a lot of boats up on it, many pods have decided to take a break here. As it turns out, the crossing is pretty simple. In fact, some people crossed much faster than they wanted and ended way up the beach with the other pods instead of down river with us. No problem. My partner and I pulled up on the beach we went rock hunting. Lots of rocks. But no agates (today). It is hard to find agates when the sun is right overhead. Easier when the sun is low on the horizon and sort of lights up the little suckers.

We did walk up the Santiam a little ways. Cold Water. The Santiam river itself is not very long, perhaps 8 miles, but it starts from the North and South branches of the Santiam which themselves feed into big reservoirs (one being Detroit Lake, a popular ski play and camping lake).

 

Just down river from the Confluence we start to run into a lot more obvious human habitation. First we cross over the line of the Buena Vista ferry. There are three operational ferries on the Willamette river. This one, one at Wheatland and one at Canby. All three of them use the same ferry construction. They are small (perhaps 6-9 cars max) flat two sided boats. They are powered by an overhead electric wire that runs on a little trolley system on a cable overhead, and they are held in place on the river by an underwater cable that they pull themselves along on. I think they also have a backup generator on board as well as auxiliary propellers.  A little more of a history search shows that the Canby and Buena Vista crossing are using slightly older boats that carry six cars and use overhead power, while the Wheatland Ferry is newer and bigger, it can carry nine cars and supplies its own power using a generator. I am a little unconvinced as to the accuracy of these reports. We may have to drive out to the Ferries and get better details. You can ride one (in your car) for like $3 and they are certainly a fun little thing to do with your family. Hey, take the kids out to ride the ferry and for a picnic by the river. You could hunt for Agates!! I would probably recommend the Wheatland Ferry for that. Willamette Mission park is right there and provides a good place for a picnic and exploration. Of course, I have only seen the other two ferries from the river, so perhaps there are some good parks close to them also.

A lttle downstream from the Ferry is a medium sized wooded island. We went down the left channel and then stopped at the North tip for a bio break. My partner and I went agate hunting in the shallow water at the tip and we got several of our Pod mates following along with us. Pretty soon people were finding agates and getting all excited. Not sure why it feels so good to find a rock, but it does, and it appears to be contagious. And fun. And cheap. Well, until you start to bring them home and have to go out and buy the rock tumblers and grit and such.

Hops Production at Rogue

Down and around the corner, through another small set of fast water, and we are at a Rogue Brewery site. This site is an active Hops farm, we can see the harvest machinery going as we float by. In past years, this had been the location of Paddle Oregon’s 4th (and final) stop. But this year the camping area was all dug up and muddy and not suitable for as large a group that we had. So we are going to float down a bit further and stay at a friendly local farmers bottom land. (On a side note, this may be a good thing since people didn’t like all of the noise of the round-the-clock hops harvest trucks at Rogue last year).

Boats on Murphy's Bar

The place we ended up staying is called Murphy Bar. This is really just a rock bar that is underwater in the winter. As camping sites goes, it was probably my least favorite, mainly because the entire area was gravel and there were very few spots to put up a tent that you were not on rock. My partner and I arrived a little later than most so we didn’t get a prime camp site. We were pretty much camped out on the shoulder of a dirt road. If I do this trip again, I am going to have better bed technology. It may be that the best thing is just a big air mattress. There is certainly room in your luggage for such a thing. I hesitate to use an air mattress because if you get a hole in them you end up sleeping on the ground (which has happened) but… perhaps with a good patch kit and some caution… The other possibility is a foldable cot. I saw both things in use walking through the extended campground and I admit to being a little jealous. Of course, I couldn’t decide if I was more jealous of the cot or the mattress.

 

My Kayak Partner and I relax at Dinner

I think it is a Paddle Oregon tradition to have a really big, great dinner on the last night. I must say that I think it will be difficult to have something all that much more super than the previous evenings, but our caterer seems inclined to try. Thanks to one of my Pod mates, I have pictures of the menu and the heap of Crab that was there. I will also say that the Prime Rib was HUGE and sliced to order and delicious. There was also good beer from Rogue and some fun western singing from a local group. It was a fabulous dinner and evening, even if we didn’t win the raffle for the 2017 Paddle Oregon Eclipse Ukulele. (too bad, I would have played it for you. Do you like “Sloop John B.?).

The owner of the farm came out and talked to us and told us something about the history of his farm and family. I wish that I could remember the details, but he was a good story teller. One thing that I remember was him talking about technology and how farming is changing. He said that he invested a bunch of money for computer controlled mapping and plowing technology. Now, I wouldn’t think much of this, but he said (I am trying to remember numbers) that a field that had taken a person driving a tractor 13 hours to plow was now done in 3 hours. Not only that, the plowing was such that more crops could be planted in the same area. Wow. Translate the use of the tractor into money spent on equipment and you see that the computer control is something a third of the cost compared to a human driver. The other thing I think I remember was him saying that he had 1000 acres planted. He mentioned that he was making the land we were camping on available to many people to use. I guess anyone can camp on it during the year (not sure about that) but he has also had many other groups come out and use it for free. The only thing he asks is that the groups free him from legal responsibilities. What a nice thing for him to do.

Day 5

Our last day (really half a day) on the river.

Some Mergansers

We had only drifted down river about a mile when we passed Independence. This is a nice little town with a very handy park on the river. My paddle club (Kayak Portland) has used it as a put in for a Independence to Salem paddle before. This length of the river has lots of nice rock bars for Agate Hunting. Today is only 15 miles and we are now going past many more homes and small communities. There is one little place that is called “Social Security Hole”. It is just a little park along the river where people evidently like to go and fish. Lot’s of articles on it on the web saying what a pleasant park it is and how friendly the local people are. And evidently the fishing is good.

My Partner found a big Agate

Our sister paddled with us, doesn't she look great in our blue Journey?

 

But the river is running and the end of our journey is drawing close. We have time for one more lunch on the river and do a full pod picture. Just around the bend is the big bridge in Salem and under that is the pull-out and the inevitable cluster of people getting their boats and gear onto their cars and heading home. You can stall for a little while and enjoy the serenity of the river. You even get one more little exciting bit where you have to paddle to stay away from the slightly dangerous current going under a local college boat house (you can tell that it is slightly dangerous because of the big signs that say “DANGER (slightly)” and the presence of a Paddle Oregon staff safety boater hanging out under the sign.

But then were are paralleling the highway and the city surrounds us and we are at

The End

Ok, that was too abrupt. I mean, we have to give hugs and handshakes to our many new friends that we have spent the last 5 days paddling with. Interesting and fun people all. People that you have share strange confidences with over the last few days. People that you would Ride the River (add link to novel) with. People that you may even see again one day. Perhaps in another Jasper Pod. Hey, there is our son with the car. Time to go.

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