Trip Report: Exploring Scappoose Bay by Kayak
When: 6/24/2018
Location: Scappoose Bay - Warren, Oregon
Conditions: Beautiful bluebird day with almost no wind and calm water.
Duration: About three hours
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes!
Usefull links: Scappoose Bay Paddling Center
The Full Report:
My good friend Josh and I went out to Scappoose Bay the other weekend and had fun morning exploring the channels and streams to the south of the bay. We each rented a sea kayak from Next Adventures' Scappoose Bay Paddle Center and were on the water paddling within minutes. From the Paddle Center, there is a huge amount of water to explore but we chose to see how far we could get up some of the channels to the south. We left the dock just after low tide and had a great time snaking our way through a flat-water stream with heavily wooded banks. We were able to paddle our way through and around some fallen trees that blocked the way but were eventually stopped by a mess of trees that had piled on each other. Maybe during a higher tide, our path could have made it a little further.
Along the way, we saw many birds and one large creature running through the brush that turned out to be a cow. It eventually stopped and watched us warily with its herd-mates as we paddled by.
When we had gotten back to the bay we weren't quite ready to be done paddling yet and wanted to see how well our fancy sea kayaks could perform. We're both still working on learning some more advanced kayaking techniques; edging and leaning our turns, bracing, sculling, rolling, etc. We cruised north towards the Columbia a little way and played around in the more open water before heading back to the dock.
This was my first time to Scappoose Bay but I'm certainly going back. There is much more to explore this great launching point and the variety of boats available from the Paddle Center makes it a great place to bring all sorts of people to.
The Full Report:
My good friend Josh and I went out to Scappoose Bay the other weekend and had fun morning exploring the channels and streams to the south of the bay. We each rented a sea kayak from Next Adventures' Scappoose Bay Paddle Center and were on the water paddling within minutes. From the Paddle Center, there is a huge amount of water to explore but we chose to see how far we could get up some of the channels to the south. We left the dock just after low tide and had a great time snaking our way through a flat-water stream with heavily wooded banks. We were able to paddle our way through and around some fallen trees that blocked the way but were eventually stopped by a mess of trees that had piled on each other. Maybe during a higher tide, our path could have made it a little further.
Along the way, we saw many birds and one large creature running through the brush that turned out to be a cow. It eventually stopped and watched us warily with its herd-mates as we paddled by.
When we had gotten back to the bay we weren't quite ready to be done paddling yet and wanted to see how well our fancy sea kayaks could perform. We're both still working on learning some more advanced kayaking techniques; edging and leaning our turns, bracing, sculling, rolling, etc. We cruised north towards the Columbia a little way and played around in the more open water before heading back to the dock.
This was my first time to Scappoose Bay but I'm certainly going back. There is much more to explore this great launching point and the variety of boats available from the Paddle Center makes it a great place to bring all sorts of people to.