The North Coast: With the Pacific Ocean, Willapa Bay and the mighty Columbia River all within striking distance, paddlers have a lot of options – so many that it may be difficult to know where to start.

Safety first

Nonprofit Washington Water Trails (WWT) Executive Director Julie Anderson has the best suggestion: “Safety first! Paddling is great for all ages. The good thing is that there are lots of different nonmotorized vessels to choose from – sea kayaks, canoes or, the big rage, stand-up paddle boards. But the main thing is to find an outfitter or an experienced paddler so you can educate yourself about the dangers.”

“Our waters are cold, so you need to dress for immersion in the water, not necessarily just for the air temperature. You have to be prepared for the water temperatures, the winds, the currents and tides. I was paddling way up the Columbia River a couple years ago and we were surprised that we were still feeling the tidal pull – sometimes all the way to Portland.”

Anderson’s advice is well taken. Even on a relatively calm day on Willapa Bay, paddling can be dangerous. Tidal currents are fierce and the water temperatures range from 45 to 58 degrees Fahrenheit, even on a summer day. A life jacket is a necessity.

Willapa National Wildlife Refuge wildlife biologist Bill Ritchie, said, “On the bay it’s advisable that paddlers have a tide chart. And it’s always good to have nautical charts if you anticipate a longer paddle. On those extremely low tides, vessels drop down into those channels and paddlers lose their horizon because they can’t see the shoreline.”

“And we typically get winds that pick up in the afternoon – on an outgoing tide with a southwest headwind it can be a challenge getting back to shore.”

Day paddles

There are many short paddle routes to be found around the North Coast. One quickie is to put in at the Wildlife Refuge boat launch – 13 miles north of lwaco on U.S. Highway 101 – and head across Long Island channel to the old ferry landing about 100 yards away. Or on a high tide of six feet or more, you can paddle to one of five different primitive campgrounds on Long Island (no reservations required). If you want to make a day of it, pack a lunch and take the 7-mile round-trip hike to the Don Bonker Cedar Grove of towering old-growth.

Another short paddle is offered by the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park at Fort Clatsop. Ranger John McAndrews said, “We do a paddle here at the park Thursday through Monday at high tide, so the times change a little every day. It’s an hour and a half paddle and there is no additional cost besides the park entry fee.”

“We leave from Netul Landing after an orientation. We’ve got four kayaks and three yaks and each ranger gives a slightly different program – some focus on restoration projects, others more on the history. It’s a lot of fun.” Call the park at 503-861-4425 to make reservations; they still have a few spots open later this month.

Paddle expeditions

Expedition paddling is the gold standard for serious kayakers. That’s why WWT is working to keep shorelines and camping accessible to the public. “Our mission is to make sure we can preserve public access to the water,” said Anderson. “Eighty percent of our Washington state shorelines are privately owned, and of that remaining 20 percent, 10 percent are cliffs or are basically unusable. So we have 10 percent of our shoreline to work with.”

“We also partner with many Oregon organizations, like the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership,” Anderson added. This group stewards the Lower Columbia Water Trail – a 146-mile trail from the Bonneville Dam to the Pacific Ocean. The LCREP website map indicates where paddlers can pull up and camp, find a place to eat, or look at points of interest along the way.

Ken Karch, part-time Long Beach Peninsula resident, is a paddler who took on an unusual challenge in the lead up to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. He and his buddy Bernie Gerkens set off to re-create part of the 1805 Lewis and Clark Columbia River trip. They made the 136 mile paddle from Beacon Rock to the Port of Chinook in six days, carrying all their gear, food, tide tables, charts and a GPS device.

As they wrote on Day 1: “We noted that high tide is about six hours later than in Astoria and low tide about 7.5 hours later.” The account of their trip is fascinating; they’ve interspersed their observations and photographs with notations from the expedition journals.

Karch sums up their trip like this, “The combination of tidal currents, winds, boat traffic, beauty of the landscape and relatively undeveloped shores … make the lower Columbia River a very attractive and, sometimes challenging, sea-kayaking experience for the expedition-minded kayaker.”

Intertribal journey

We cannot leave the topic of paddling without acknowledging the longstanding expertise of the Chinook Nation, noted in all early literature for both the design of their canoes and their mastery of the water.

Chinook Tribal Elder and past Chairman Gary Johnson, said, “We just completed our Intertribal Canoe Journey – Paddle to Squaxin – starting close to where my grandmother was born. We spent two days coming down the Columbia River, then we portaged over and went from Long Island, Bear River area, to Bay Center. Then we went across from Bay Center to Shoalwater and spent two days there and around to Chehalis.”

“It’s an important journey and we do a lot of that for the youth, so they can learn. We have special protocols – each tribe presents their songs, dances and drumming. It takes months to prepare all the regalia. It has benefits for everyone traveling along – an important part of it is the strong relations that are developed with all of the tribes.”

Commenting on the traditional Chinookan canoe and paddle, Johnson said, “It’s recorded that clipper ships, the fastest sailing ships ever designed, were designed right off the hull of Chinook canoes. Those canoes are just amazing – they can handle any kind of water. They were perfected over thousands of years.”

So whether you paddle for fun, to experience the wilderness, or to educate the next generation and teach your culture, paddling is an integral part of life on the North Coast.