Okay, so we're just one week away from heading for Southwestern Washington and Northwest Classic Boat Club's Columbia River Adventure, focusing on exploration of quiet backwaters of Puget Island, Cathlamet, Skamokawa and environs.
The main event will be Saturday, July 11, launching around 10-10:30 a.m. at the marina in Cathlamet. Our waterways guide will be Tom Horn of Portland, veteran river rat who's been polishing up his tour-guide megaphone. (Many of you know Tom from our annual Slough Run event; he's the crazy guy who takes his gorgeous 16-foot mahogany speedster down through the Willow Run, usually without getting a scratch on the thing. Tom knows backwaters of the lower Columbia pretty well, so he'll be an excellent leader as we poke into river estuaries to see old boats, one-time cannery operations and the historic river towns of Cathlamet and Skamokawa by water.)
Several of us will trailer down to the area Friday afternoon or evening, July 10, overnighting closer to the event. The best choices are right in Wahkiakum County (Cathlamet, Skamokawa and area), or adjoining Cowlitz County (Castle Rock, Kelso, Longview, generally along the I-5 corridor).
For accommodations in the Cathlamet-Skamokawa area:
www.welcometowahkiakum.com
For accommodations in the Castle Rock area (just north of Longview on I-5):
http://www.castlerockwatoday.com/was...elsMotels.html
For accommodations in the Longview-Kelso area (close to I-5, east of our rendezvous point in Cathlamet):
http://www.longviewkelso.com/washing...elsMotels.html
We've been told, just fyi, that the cabins at Cathlamet's marina are all reserved for the weekend. Mo and I will be staying Friday and Saturday nights at a farmhouse on Puget Island, just across the river from Cathlamet.
Castle Rock has generally been our choice for a place to stay the night before Saturday events on the Columbia River. You get within striking distance, and still pay small-town motel prices.
Finally, for now, if you get to Cathlamet Friday afternoon/evening, you might want to launch your boat then at the marina since the highest tides are in the evening and early morning. (I'm sure the marina ramp is okay for low tides, but it might be nice to avoid the Saturday a.m. 'rush' at the Cathlamet ramp, since a lot of fisherfolk use the facility.)
We'll post more details as we get closer to next weekend's event...
- Marty
The main event will be Saturday, July 11, launching around 10-10:30 a.m. at the marina in Cathlamet. Our waterways guide will be Tom Horn of Portland, veteran river rat who's been polishing up his tour-guide megaphone. (Many of you know Tom from our annual Slough Run event; he's the crazy guy who takes his gorgeous 16-foot mahogany speedster down through the Willow Run, usually without getting a scratch on the thing. Tom knows backwaters of the lower Columbia pretty well, so he'll be an excellent leader as we poke into river estuaries to see old boats, one-time cannery operations and the historic river towns of Cathlamet and Skamokawa by water.)
Several of us will trailer down to the area Friday afternoon or evening, July 10, overnighting closer to the event. The best choices are right in Wahkiakum County (Cathlamet, Skamokawa and area), or adjoining Cowlitz County (Castle Rock, Kelso, Longview, generally along the I-5 corridor).
For accommodations in the Cathlamet-Skamokawa area:
www.welcometowahkiakum.com
For accommodations in the Castle Rock area (just north of Longview on I-5):
http://www.castlerockwatoday.com/was...elsMotels.html
For accommodations in the Longview-Kelso area (close to I-5, east of our rendezvous point in Cathlamet):
http://www.longviewkelso.com/washing...elsMotels.html
We've been told, just fyi, that the cabins at Cathlamet's marina are all reserved for the weekend. Mo and I will be staying Friday and Saturday nights at a farmhouse on Puget Island, just across the river from Cathlamet.
Castle Rock has generally been our choice for a place to stay the night before Saturday events on the Columbia River. You get within striking distance, and still pay small-town motel prices.
Finally, for now, if you get to Cathlamet Friday afternoon/evening, you might want to launch your boat then at the marina since the highest tides are in the evening and early morning. (I'm sure the marina ramp is okay for low tides, but it might be nice to avoid the Saturday a.m. 'rush' at the Cathlamet ramp, since a lot of fisherfolk use the facility.)
We'll post more details as we get closer to next weekend's event...
- Marty
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