Trip Report: Willamette River from Marshall Island to Corvallis
By Mark Taratoot
Two paddlers launched from Marshall Island headed for Corvallis on the last day of May. One paddler was in a 17.5’ teal Wenonah Voyager solo canoe. The other paddler was in a 13’ Current Designs Vision sea kayak. In addition to just being a great couple river days, it was a celebration of the second anniversary of a retirement.
The plan: Paddle about 20 miles and camp at Norwood Island or the gravel bar across from Norwood Island. Another option was to push on to Buckskin Mary for camp. Neither of us had camped at Buckskin before. Norwood is my favorite; it’s hard for me NOT to camp there. It’s about 36 miles or so from Marshall Island to Crystal Lake Boat Ramp.
We initially were not sure where we would put in. The issue was leaving a vehicle overnight. We weren't sure if the RV and boat storage place near our favorite put-in still let people park a vehicle there overnight for a small fee. The other option was to shave off the first eight miles or so and launch from Harrisburg and leave a vehicle on a neighborhood street. We decided to TRY Marshall Island and check in with the RV storage place. Nobody was in the office. They still didn’t answer the phone, and they hadn’t replied to my e-mail from a couple days before. We found a form, filled it out, left some money, and risked it. I'm glad we did.
The upper part of the river is always very nice for me. Historically, the channel was cleared for upstream travel for stern wheel boats up to Harrisburg. The river still feels just a little wilder above there. And there’s just so many Bald Eagles. And there’s usually so few other people.
While I was walking back from parking my truck at the RV storave, two groups paddled by. They must have put in about eight miles upstream at Armitage Park on the McKenzie River. One group was doing a day trip. The other group appeared to be on a multi-day trip. Even though my canoe was heavy (I carried my personal gear including a Roll-a-Cot, a big first-aid kit, 2.5 gallons of water, a full cooler, a dry box with kitchen supplies & food, a chair, clothes, some fishing kit, and some rescue equipment), we passed both groups about seven or eight miles downstream from our put in around the railroad bridge about a mile above Harrisburg. Yeah, I guess we're fast. We were clearly going faster than they were since we caught them, and when they were still in the distance, we put the juice on to get on ahead of them so we didn't have to look at them too long. I like looking at the empty river in front of us, not another group, especially if it's a larger group.
We slowed down a bit after we made some space between them and us. They had stopped near Osprey Island, perhaps for lunch. I thought they might have opted to camp there. They were nowhere to be seen. We made a lunch stop. It wasn't an EXTENDED lunch, but we had some sangria over cubed ice (yeah, canoes are awesome), some fresh cherries, and some other lunch stuff. Then we kept paddling, and not particularly fast. I did some fishing, and that slows us down even more. We watched more and more Bald Eagles.
We paddled past Irish Bend. This is where we normally take out for a day trip from Marshall Island. It’s about 18 or 19 miles. We continued a few more miles to Norwood Island - my very favorite camp on this stretch. I like it so much that I never camp anywhere else. There are two sites on Norwood. The public site is on the downstream end of the island. The other is a worker site that's really nice in the heat of the summer. It's reserved for people doing restoration work on the island. Norwood is owned by Willamette Riverkeeper. I am a volunteer and part time worker for WRK, so I called to see if it was OK to camp there. It was! I wasn't surprised. The work season hasn't started.
The worker camp was still overgrown, and I'm feeling very tick-shy after having one deeply embedded in my waist a couple weeks ago. We decided not to move in. I know the main site had been mowed since I walked up there a few weeks prior. Even so, rather than carry all our stuff up, we paddled across to the gravel bar that's also part of the property. It would have made a fine camp. It was not very protected from the wind, so we decided to risk paddling a few more miles to a camp I've always WANTED to check out but never have. At this point, I was pretty sure that the other group had already pulled out to camp because they had already done eight miles more than we had, and they hadn't caught back up to us even though we made three stops. There is a wind-protected area on the downstream end of the gravel bar, but we kind of wanted to check out Buckskin, and we risked that it would be open for us.
We got to Buckskin Mary. It’s a really nice camp. I was glad we decided to paddle on to check it out. After we got our camp set up, that other group of eight boats paddled up and landed.
Uh oh.
Taratoot prepares a fine dinner at camp.
They were planning to camp there, but we were already there. It was a 24 mile day for us, so it was a 32 mile day for them. At least one person in their group was having a bad day. I feel a little bad about that, but we did try to communicate with them. They didn't tell us where they wanted to camp, and they could tell that we had got in front of them. They shouldn't have been THAT surprised we were there. If I had known they wanted to camp at Buckskin Mary, I surely would have stayed at Norwood. Buckskin Mary and Sam Daws Landing occupies a fairly large area about 150 acres. They walked around the area around to find another spot to camp. There’s tall grass most everywhere. They almost set up in the tall grass, but decided to paddle on around the corner. I think they found a nice gravel bar that would support their group without being in the tall grass. We could hear them, but just a little bit, during the evening. The next day, we tried to figure out where they might have stopped. There were actually several options.
It's good to note that a lot of people like Buckskin Mary. If you’re planning to stay there, be aware it might be occupied when you get there. The good thing to remember is there’s a few other gravel bars just downstream that can work as a camp if needed.
We had a nest of Bald Eagles just across the river from our camp. Another one was off behind the camp. We saw so many Bald Eagles I lost count. Probably three dozen over the two days. So many. Just wow.
We ate very well. For appetizers we had brie with wild mushrooms on fig and olive crisps. We also had some nice Cabernet. For supper we had a very nice green salad topped with tabbouleh alongside of some fresh butternut squash ravioli. We were so full we didn't bother with the dessert of a mini lemon tartlet. I brought dolmas as an additional appetizer, but we never opened them.
We had a lazy morning in camp. We enjoyed two cups of coffee and just sat and watched the river. We only had 12 miles to paddle, so there was no rush. It was easy to repack the canoe. Off we went.
As we paddled past Snag Boat Bend, I looked up and saw a flock of birds that weren’t flying like geese. I quickly realized it was a group of over 30 White Pelicans. It’s a bit of a rarity to see them in the Willamette Valley, but I did see a somewhat smaller flock about the same time last year. It was very nice to watch their aerial maneuvers.
We stopped for lunch about three miles above the end of our trip on a very nice beach on the back side of an island. It was very quiet there. We had passed only one other group below the put-in that's only nine miles from our planned take-out. We ate the leftover salad with tabbouleh, some grilled tempeh, sliced pickles and veggies, some more brie and crackers, the last of the sangria, and more cherries. Yes, there was still cubed ice for the sangria. Another Bald Eagle sat watch in a tree across from us. Before we left, a half dozen Turkey Vultures came down and roosted in a snag below where the Eagle was resting. Just fantastic.
We saw the Benton County Sheriff's Marine Patrol about a mile above our take-out. We had a very short chat. They saw we were ~WEARING~ our PFDs (not using them as cushions), so they didn't need to stay long. They asked about our signaling devices. I said, "Yeah, we have PFDs, whistles, permits; all the things." They wished us a nice day, and off they went to contact other river users in this busy section. We had just passed a group of folks putting in near the little access near Willamette Landing neighborhood in a couple aluminum canoes and paddle boards. They had PFDs, but only the kids were wearing them. I don't know why people don't just WEAR their PFDs. They are life support equipment. If your PFD isn't comfortable, go spend some money on a good one. They last ten years, so even if you spend $200, it's twenty bucks a year. My life is worth more than that. For paddling, be sure you have a PFD that is rated for paddling (and probably also sailing). A general-purpose boating PFD isn’t the right choice for paddlers.
We got to our take out. I walked a half mile to my house and got my friend's car. I came back to the boat ramp and loaded up my canoe and gear, then dropped it off at my house. I went back to the ramp, we loaded her boat and gear into her car, and we headed back upstream to pick up my truck. My truck was safe. I drove home to the north, and she continued home to the south.
It was a very very nice trip. Did I mention all the Bald Eagles? So.... Many..... Eagles....