Robert Weinman of the Beachwalker Project (a clean water awareness project) got together with Dan Gavere for a "little" paddle on the Columbia River. Here is what Robert has to say about their day....
Over 1200 miles long, the Columbia River (known as Wimahl or Big River in the Gorge region’s native Chinook Language) is America’s fifth largest river by volume. It is along the banks of this quiet giant of a river in a small town named Hood River that I have been preparing for the next venture for the Beachwalk Project. Having a watershed near the size of France and draining two Canadian provences and seven US states (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Utah & Nevada) you can imagine that the Columbia must have a variety scenery that it passes through. This weekend’s paddle was no exception.
I had the luck of meeting up with Dan Gavere from Werner Paddles who happened to be in town for the weekend. “I’ve got a great paddle for us.” I said over the phone on Friday. “Distance? Oh yeah…ten, maybe twelve miles, but great topography!” Feeling less confident about my distance estimation, as Dan pulled out a new hand held nautical GPS, I tried to distract him from marking his first waypoint. “Hey Dan check that out. That’s Beacon Rock. Did some of my first rock climbing there. Pretty amazing eh?” Beacon Rock, the basalt core of an ancient volcano, is a monolythic wonder. Rising nearly 850 feet out of the waters of the Columbia, it offers hundreds of rock climbs. “Sounds like great run.” was Dan’s reply as I pointed out the rather sketchy hiking trail on Beacon that was completed in the 1920’s with cantilevered bridges spanning rock faces. Only slightly distracted, Dan still remembered to mark his waypoint on the GPS….
”Drat.”
Gathering our gear we paddled out into the Columbia. A 2-3 knot current coupled with a steady 15 – 20 knot tailwind promised our travel would be quick. As we paddled into the main channel we must have appeared a strange apparition for the still groggy fishermen. I sitting low in my mango orange Old Town kayak along side a long haired fellow who appeared to be walking on water and sweeping it at the same time.
You see Dan is one of the early Guru’s of the now fastest growing paddling sport of stand up boards. Over the course of the day I began to understand why Dan, with over 30 years of kayaking under his belt, has chosen stand up to be his current favorite paddling sport. He literally surfed downriver.
“I thought he was walking on water.” was the comment from one of the fishermen upon seeing Dan surf by.. “Or you had run up on another sandbar again.” came the rebuttal from his shipmate.
The winds picked up steadily as Dan I entered the middle of our venture. Surfing on some good sized waves we turned to our left and peering beyond one of Columbia’s many fast moving river barges we could see the 700 foot cascade of Multnohmah Falls. The falls diverted our attention only for a moment as a three tiered, 80 foot paddle boat from nearby Cascade Locks headed our way and ushered us downriver to Phoca Rock a one hundred foot high rock island rising out of the middle of the Columbia.
A sudden gust knocked down my kite and as I fumbled with the lines Dan pulled ashore and scaled Phoca for a better view. We regrouped in the wind-shadow offered by the bold island and then continued to the base of the edifice of Cape Horn, a quarter mile span of sheer basalt cliffs rising over 900 feet out of the river. I marveled at the persistance, against all odds, of a bonsai-like evergreen that clung tenaciously to the tip of the actual horn, a needle like rock formation that stands alone from the cliffs in the water.
The small network of roots, shrubs and mosses that clung to the base of the tree reminded me of the rewards for persistant people with a purpose. Slowly, over time and against all odds those people begin to build a network that builds on their work, and, over time change can be seen. Slow change, however, like the slow growth of the tree generates deep roots, and even when the tree actually dies, the roots that it leaves behind serve as a solid foundation for more generations to build upon.
Okay, don’t worry, I won’t get too philosophical with our venture at Beachwalk Project. I will be the first to admit that we are still amateurs in the area of Watershed stewardship. It is my hope, however, that our advocating efforts will motivate a child in a community to become that tenacious tree that creates change against all odds.
After a few hours, Dan and I finished our paddle at Steamboat Landing in Washougal. After loading our craft, we huddled in Dan’s van and like starving parrots feasted on roasted pistachios, reminding me of Stein’s saying, “the best spice in any food is hunger.” Turns out our paddle was nearly 19 miles not the 12 that I had predicted. I’m still convinced the GPS is wrong. I also still think that it was pure dumn luck that Dan completed the paddle way ahead of me in a ‘casual’ manner. Just the same it was another gift to be back on the water.
In a matter of months, the small team of Beachwalk Project will be heading out of Seattle on our paddle out the Puget Sound and then South down the Pacific Coast. Once again we will be advocating for communities and specifically children of communities to rally behind the small organizations in their region that have been working to protect their local watersheds. We expect to organize and participate in over 50 different events in schools, aquariums, nature centers and on the beach.
Dan Gavere and everyone at Werner Paddles has been gracious enough to gather behind our project in support of our efforts.
Thank you to WernerSr, and his entire family for making such a great company that is so supportive of protecting the waters we live and play in. Thank you to Dan for his enthusiasm for our project, and his encouragement. The Beachwalk team is small, but the help of so many of our friends has helped us so much in reaching all the communities along the coast.
