Getting Some Wood - Paddle Oregon 2022

Great Blue Heron Likes the Wood

There was a lot of rain last spring. A lot of rain means that a lot of erosion occurred on the steep corners of the river and so a lot of trees got undercut and fell into the river. Also a lot of old logs that have been up on the shore in a rock bank for a decade got picked up and swept further downstream. The upshot is that there was a lot more wood in the fast running water than there has been in most years past. Wood is a sneaky and dangerous thing and it is what we most want to avoid as we navigate our way down the river. 

Why Wood? The Willamette is a flat valley river. It has some medium fast moving water but it really doesn’t have any of the big boulder type rapids that you might associate with “white water rafting” or the like. There are a LOT of rocks. But they are small. They tend to top out around head size. And they are well rounded ancient river rocks. Rocks that have been river bed off and on for thousands of years. There are some upcroppings of solid rock, but they tend to be very visible and easy to predict (and thus avoid).  Wood, however, can be just about anywhere, and since the river is relatively slow moving, the trees get pushed around until they point downstream and then the ends float up and the tips of the long flexible trees bounce up and down a foot or so in the running water. 

We had one little rapid where the water suddenly scrunched over to river left with an obvious deep and fast spot in the middle of the flow. Hit that deep water V and then ferry out at the bottom in the eddyline and wait for the rest of the pod. Easy Peasy. There was some unusually agitated water in the middle of the run but I didn’t really notice it at the time as I was following my partner through the flow. Not a big deal until in the middle of the run I see, just under the water, not 1 but 3 telephone pole sized tree trunks. They are parallel pointing down river about 2 feet apart and bouncing up and down in the rushing river. Bang! One hits the right of my boat and shoves me over 5 inches, Bop! Another hits my right and shoves me back, I am now right over the middle log, it appears to be going down, oscillating in the water,  and ducks under my boat… and I am over. Well, That was fucking exciting. And since we are following each other down the line, every member of our pod has a similar experience. Everyone gets some wood, everyone gets pretty excited. No one goes over. 

Some Wood Out Three (picture from Riverkeeper)

If you flip your boat and go into the water, we call that “going swimming”. It sounds less dangerous and is actually pretty descriptive of what usually happens on the Willamette. You are just unexpectedly in the water and you need to swim until you reach shore or someone comes and gets you. You would only be in trouble if you were swept into some wood. In the case above, if those 3 poles had knocked you over, you probably would have been fine as long as you didn’t hit your head on the trunks. You would have been swept off of them and down current where things calmed down pretty quickly. These pole like trunks appeared to be old and slick. No little branches sticking out. Little branches that could either cut you, impale you, or just trap a flailing arm or leg and get you stuck underwater in the current. Those things are all bad. 

The leaders tell a story from 2019 (the most recent previous paddle. Pre-Covid). A nice expensive tandem kayak in the infamous Penguins Pod was coming down that stretch of river out of Junction City. The stretch that is faster and more wood prone that the rest of the trips run. A tandem is a 2 person kayak, and this one was a nice yellow eddyline beauty. They got a little crowded by their pod and couldn’t coordinate their paddling properly going around a log in the river. The log was sticking pretty much straight up out the water. They ended up hitting it going sidewise with the middle of their boat. The current broke their boat in the center and wrapped it around that log. Both paddlers went for a swim but were otherwise fine. Not sure if they are still a couple. They don’t call those tandem kayaks ‘divorce boats’ for nothing.

About now someone who is familiar with Paddle Oregon is going to point out that there is no Penguin Pod. The off name pod is named after a different bird. I know that. I like Penguin Pod. 

I wish I had more pictures of the trees blocking the way and making life interesting, but when life on the river gets interesting one tends to secure ones camera and pay attention to driving.