We've been chipping away at the Willamette River, and this trip found us just outside of Junction City at
Marshall Island, where we took out for a
trip in 2021. We had 6 in our group, all family members.
One thing about this section down to Harrisburg, if you take Ayres Lane, or Lovelake Road, it has a very low train trestle. As in 7' 3" low. When we were heading home after taking out 2 years ago, we had our kayaks on top of our truck rack, and we had to turn around and go a different route. Luckily we were paying attention to the height! Now, we have a trailer, so we were able to pass under just fine.
There is a nice quiet eddy where the boat ramp is, so we were able to float and wait for everyone to get ready. Not too busy, around 3 in the afternoon. A few motorboats had put in, but they went upriver.
This stretch of the Willamette is similar to most of what we have already kayaked. Pretty natural, quiet, and slow. The water level seemed a bit low, but we didn't check beforehand. There were enough places that were shallow enough for me to pull my pedal drive for most of the float. A few places where the current got some speed and riffles, and that's where today's story happens.
On one of the curves, my sister in law wasn't able to escape the current enough, and was pulled into a strainer tree near the bank. Here kayak is primarily for flatwater, so, into the river she went.
So the good news. She did have her life jacket on. She did manage to grab onto another kayak and her paddle. A motorboat coming back upriver did offer to help, but we had things under control. She did have to ride the river a bit until we could get to a spot where there was no current, and she could rest before getting back into her kayak. We did save her shoes, water bottle, lotion, and hat. Unfortunately, she lost her glasses, and her small dry bag with her phone, keys, and wallet.
Now the takeaway. She was able to replace all of that stuff in a day or two, so the fact that she had the life jacket on, and we were close enough to assist is the lesson here.
Other than that...it was a nice float. The distance is 8 river miles, and it took us about 3 hours, including a short rescue and rest time in the middle.
I was not one who dropped a car at
Harrisburg Riverfront Park, so I wasn't sure where the boat ramp was. The Gazebo is it's defining feature, and you can see it from the river.
The boat "ramp" is just past it, on the right. If you have light craft, you can pull over and carry it to the parking lot. You can park pretty close to the river to load. There is a gravel path you can back a trailer or truck down, but not technically a ramp per se.
All in all, a nice section to float, and relatively short. The park has a nice bathroom with flush toilets, picnic tables, and decent parking. Several restaurants are within walking distance. We ended up at
The Voo for dinner, and they had a good selection of food and drink.
Comments
Post a Comment