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Trip Report    

Sea Kayak - Circumnavigate Puget Island

Pretty fall colors, cliffs, waterfalls, sandy beaches and little ship traffic made for a great trip around this large island in the lower Columbia River.

  • Road suitable for all vehicles
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    Little to no wind for most of the day, coming up to 3-5kt from the east in the afternoon.

    Incoming tide was a great aid during the eastbound leg from the launch and then outgoing tide helped for much of the afternoon.

    The combination of wind and tide conditions made this a pretty easy 15nm paddle.

    Only occasional light drizzle or mist during the day.

    There is a $5 non-motorized boat launch fee at the Elochoman Slough Marina. There are good bathroom facilities here and an excellent brewpub for after paddle refreshments.

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All arrived on time and we launched on schedule at 9am. The rain we drove through getting to Cathlamet stopped, so we were dry while packing and launching. We had mist and light drizzle with little to no wind as we paddled along the cliffs to the SE of Cathlamet. The incoming tide gave us a slight push along the way, so we made good time. The river level was pretty low and the waterfalls had less volume than last year. When we reached the point where the road comes down to the shoreline, we crossed to Whites Island and proceeded to our first stop and the east end of Whites Island on a nice sandy beach around 10:45am.
The last of the incoming tide was against us as we headed west, slowing us a little on our way to the east end of Coffee Pot Island where we stopped for lunch at 12:25pm. Another nice sandy beach at this stop with an interesting interpretive sign telling some of the history of the island and area.
The tide had turned as we stopped for lunch, so we had a good 0.5-1kt push for the next leg to the northern end of Puget Island where we took our last break at 2:10pm on another nice sandy beach just north of a wing dam. The wind came up to about 3-5kt from the east during this leg.
After our last break, we paddled through the channel between Puget and Ryan Islands before crossing back over to Cathlamet. We had small waves 0.25' on the beam for the crossing as the wind continued at about 5kt from the east. We arrived at the ramp at 3:15pm and were able to unpack, put the boats on the cars and change before the threatening rain came in. Most of us then walked over the River Mile 38 Brewery for refreshments/debrief before heading home.
This was a great trip in mellow conditions with slight current assist during most of the way. The weather was much better than forecast with only occasionally light drizzle/mist and almost no wind until the afternoon. We saw eagles, otters, egrets, sea lions, seals and one white pelican in the distance.
Total distance was 15.1nm.