Scappoose Bay Kayaking
This past week I was given the opportunity to go experience the "Nocturnal Kayaking Tour" at Scappoose Bay Kayaking. Which for those of you who don't know, has recently formed a very exciting partnership with Next Adventure. Right from the time that we pulled into the parking lot we were greeted by the friendly staff. Once inside, SBK's General Manager, Bru Benoist, welcomed us and proceeded to get everyone briefed on safety and outfitted everyone with their PFD's and paddles. A quick walk down to the dock and we were able to hop right in our boats; the guides made sure everyone was comfortable and we were on our way.
Having never had the previous pleasure of doing any paddling in the Scappose Bay area I was excited to see what it had to offer. Our guide, Ben, had given us a little warning that we may be a bit limited in where we were able to travel due to the low tide, but we were going to head out towards the creek and see how far up we could get.
Right away we started to see some of the local wild life, including a beautiful Blue Heron perched on a log right in the middle of the water, as well as some osprey flying overhead. As we paddled on, the waterway narrowed a bit and we came up on the fork in the creek. Ben decided that heading up Scappoose Creek was our best bet at the current water level. Our tour group was pretty diverse in paddling experience and the trees in the water started to come a bit more frequent and tight. This led to some pretty entertaining paddling by a few ladies in the group, including one lady getting a little high centered on a log and didn't realize she could have used her paddle to push off. She eventually got it figured out and we were back on our way.
We paddled further down the beautifully wooded creek until we came to an impasse due to the water level and were forced to turn back. I was disappointed at first but by the time we got back to the main waterway the sun was setting beautifully and it seemed like perfect timing. The journey continued through the wetland until it became dark. At that point we all had glow sticks fastened to our boats and we made our way back to the dock. The combination of the quiet night, silence of tired boaters, and the subtle glow from each boat made for a relaxing end to our three hour tour. Thankfully, we all made it back and no one had to swim. If you ever have the chance to do this tour I highly recommend it. If you have a large enough group you can set up your own private tour as well. SBK is extremely accommodating and are just awesome people, so see for yourself.
Having never had the previous pleasure of doing any paddling in the Scappose Bay area I was excited to see what it had to offer. Our guide, Ben, had given us a little warning that we may be a bit limited in where we were able to travel due to the low tide, but we were going to head out towards the creek and see how far up we could get.
Right away we started to see some of the local wild life, including a beautiful Blue Heron perched on a log right in the middle of the water, as well as some osprey flying overhead. As we paddled on, the waterway narrowed a bit and we came up on the fork in the creek. Ben decided that heading up Scappoose Creek was our best bet at the current water level. Our tour group was pretty diverse in paddling experience and the trees in the water started to come a bit more frequent and tight. This led to some pretty entertaining paddling by a few ladies in the group, including one lady getting a little high centered on a log and didn't realize she could have used her paddle to push off. She eventually got it figured out and we were back on our way.
We paddled further down the beautifully wooded creek until we came to an impasse due to the water level and were forced to turn back. I was disappointed at first but by the time we got back to the main waterway the sun was setting beautifully and it seemed like perfect timing. The journey continued through the wetland until it became dark. At that point we all had glow sticks fastened to our boats and we made our way back to the dock. The combination of the quiet night, silence of tired boaters, and the subtle glow from each boat made for a relaxing end to our three hour tour. Thankfully, we all made it back and no one had to swim. If you ever have the chance to do this tour I highly recommend it. If you have a large enough group you can set up your own private tour as well. SBK is extremely accommodating and are just awesome people, so see for yourself.