10/15 - 10/29 - 2017 Snake/Columbia River C-Dory Cruise

[colbysmith]

Wondering if there will be any issues traveling out along I90 or 94 due to all the fires around Missoula and out west. I know we are still more than a month out. Colby

[Bluechablis]

Yes, I am hoping by Oct the fires will be out but I am sure we will be dealing with the aftermath. So sad. Take a look at this report

https://fstoppers.com/historical/photographers-around-world-are-devastated-majestic-columbia-river-gorge-194907

[thataway]

Just got a call from a delivery skipper saying that I 84 is closed and the Columbia River was completely closed to navigation. He has a boat to deliver up the River to Lewiston. He thought it would be weeks before I 84 is open, because of potential landslides.

Anyone in Portland comment? All we hear about here is hurricanes...

[Wandering Sagebrush]

[Wandering Sagebrush]

From local news, it sounds like freeway may open next week. Trees are the issue.

[colbysmith]

While I'm concerned about how this will affect our planned trip down the Snake and Columbia Rivers, I'm sad for all those that have lost homes and lives with these fires. Same goes for the hurricanes and earthquakes. The destruction Mother Nature and careless individuals is causing around the world right now, hurricanes, fires & earthquakes is astounding. Colby

[Jim Gibson]

Thanks Floyd for the fire link.

I just watched national news about the forest fire near the Oregon town of Cascade Locks in the Columbia River George area near Bonneville Lock.

We will just have to wait and see how this all evolves over the next few weeks. Our trip is over a month away and this is the last lock of our eight lock crossings.

Mother nature is in full swing right now from Oregon to Texas to Florida to Mexico!

[hardee]

I-84 will be closed through the weekend, maybe open (westbound next week) after all the burned trees are out and the rock walls are checked. The Columbia River is open for commercial traffic now.

The Washington side (Hiway 14) is open, but was using pilot cars and one ways for a while, I don't know if that is still the case or not.

Harvey
SleepyC

[Two Bears]

Some information about our trip:
1. Logistics in Lewiston:
a. WHERE TO STAY: When you arrive in Lewiston you can set in the marina, stay in the State Park campground ($25 – 30 depending on state residence), or one of the local motels. The marina in the Hells Gate State park will hold your boat for $9 per night plus $5 to park truck/ trailer. The army corps permit to the park does not allow living aboard, but if we stay just for a few nights they won’t be coming down at night and knocking on your boat door to see if you are on board. I intend to launch Monday afternoon, Oct 16 & spend the next two nights in the marina.
b. PARKING: We can leave trucks/ trailers in marina parking lot at $5/ day. It’s not secure, but the park patrols in daylight hours & city cops at night. It’s not a “hot” spot for the kids so I don’t think we need to worry if we take normal precautions.
c. CHASE RIG: or “Sag Wagon”. I have a Nissan Xterra that will seat 4 in some comfort, 5 in less. We could have a different driver each day follow the boats so that we would always have wheels nearby. If someone has a larger rig it would be better. If we get more that 5 boats we will need to rent a car to help with the shuttle. At some point renting a shuttle rig might make sense.
d. SHUTTLE: It’s a 8 hour 400+ mile drive between Lewiston and Astoria. I suggest we consider shuttling a few rigs to Arlington, Oregon which is about half way. Then we would always have a truck and trailer within a few hours of our boats. We would need to do that shuttle on Tuesday, Oct 17.
2. Locking thru: I visited with the Corps office in Clarkston and they consulted with a higher office. Since we are a group we get special attention and can pass thru anytime, but that means we need to be a “flotilla” at least at the dams. We need to call ahead and they will be ready / looking for us. The commercial tows do have higher priority, but they will know if we are going to have a conflict at least a day in advance, so we can adjust if needed.
3. Fuel & speed: I’ll be calling some of the fuel stops in the next week, as some may be down for the winter. If so, we will have a few discussions along the way on speed. I like hull speed, but to meet our “schedule” we will need to move faster than “hull” speed and that burns fuel. Also, there are a few places that I want to visit more thoroughly than just a “drive by.” How fast and when I suspect will be a joint decision made daily.

Give me a call at 208-476-3123 if you need more specifics.

Chuck

[Jim Gibson]

Thanks Chuck and Penny for the good information and kind offerings.

I agree, we will launch from the Hells Gate State Park, and those that want to can leave their truck and trailer rigs there.

Your chase rig is a windfall benefit. Please sign up my crew Kathy as a designated day driver for those days that you want her to drive. I will look forward to riding back to Lewiston at the end of the trip in your chase rig to retrieve my tow rig.

I look forward to working with you on a daily itinerary for this trip. It is challenging to lay out our schedule for a ten-day period on the water for the 500 NM expedition cruise.

On further consideration, we should all plan on leaving the dock Wednesday morning, October 18, at 8:00 AM, so we can get a full first day under our belt. I now plan to have my boat in the water for Tuesday night, October 17.

I previously suggested a Noon departure on the 18th, but we need the extra time to make headway down the Snake River.

[colbysmith]

My intent is to be launching sometime the afternoon of the 17th. I'm also looking into using my airline retirement benefits to fly from Portland to Lewiston after we arrive at Astoria. Still working out logistics for getting from Astoria to PDX and LWS to Hell's Gate. I thought about trying to centralize my rig, but think it probably best to just leave it at Hell's Gate for planning now. Colby

[TyBoo]

Latest InciWeb report on the Eagle Creek Fire:

The U.S Coast Guard reopened the Columbia River to all traffic last night at 8 p.m. Firefighters spent a good part of Sunday completing a successful burnout to protect the community of Cascade Locks. The fire is holding at the lower edge of Herman Creek and light winds today are predicted to blow from the east pushing the fire back on itself. Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) crews finished their structure protection and assessment work in the Level One Evacuation area in Hood River County. OSFM crews will continue to operate day and night shifts mainly along Interstate 84. Due to the diminished risk to structures, OSFM has begun to reduce the number of crews assigned to the fire. The OSFM mission remains the same: to keep everyone safe and protect structures.

Heavy smoke obscured a large part of the southern fire perimeter for most of the day yesterday preventing the use of aerial resources. Several helicopters assisted other fires in the area. With the change in winds today, fire managers should be able to get a clear look at the the fire perimeter on the east and south side above the Bull Run Watershed. Firefighters will finish mopping up along the northwestern perimeter today near Cascade Locks after completing a burnout yesterday. Firefighters are almost finished tying together roads and trails to put indirect line from Herman Creek southwest to the southernmost extent of the fire.

The change in the winds and sunnier skies will help firefighters find and extinguish any hotspots that may have been smoldering in the low-lying smoke and moist undergrowth for the last several days. Generally, the weather will allow for increased fire behavior but extreme fire behavior is not expected.

Resources Assigned: 24 Crews (4 Type 1, 13 Type 2, 7 Type 2 Initial Attack); 84 Engines; 11 helicopters; 38 dozers, 9 water tenders, 979 personnel.

[thataway]

Does anyone know why the US Forest service limits the water drops to 5,000 gallons? Calif. and many foreign nations have successfully used the converted 747 which will carry 19,600 gallons of retardant, and the DC 12 carrying 12,000 gallons?

[AstoriaDave]

Bob,

Could be that the terrain for this fire is too irregular and too steep for those larger aircraft.

Or is that figure USFS - wide?

[Two Bears]

SCHEDULE: Jim and I have put together a tentative schedule. The miles are statue river miles from the CoE shown on the Evergreen Pacific Chart book. The actual miles we boat will differ.
Night --- Place -- Day Miles
1 Lyons Ferry 84
2 Kennewick 88
3 Boardman 59
4 John Day Rvr 51
5 Hood River 50
6 Port of Camas marina 47
7 Kalama 47
8 Astoria 60

We arrived at the above schedule by deciding we needed to get down the Snake in two days, or 150 miles in two days. That will be two dams/ locks each day. Then we planned 50 miles per day and picked something close. That gets us to Astoria in 8 days and we have 10 planned, so we can work in two weather/ time out days depending on what we encounter. We should expect changes as no plan is perfect nor survives past the first day.

I have the above worked out on a spread sheet that shows the river mile of many possible stopping places. If interested send your email to me at raddon@frontier.com and I'll email the spreadsheet.

CHASE CAR / SHUTTLE: As I remarked in a previous message, I live only 50 miles from our start and have a nissan xterra that could be used as a chase car to follow us. The chase car would meet us every night and a fresh driver would take it the next day. If we have five boats with two crew, could one of the crew serve as driver of the "chase" car for 1 or 2 days on the trip. If we don't get enough drivers we'll have to leave the chase car behind and fly back to get our trucks/ trailers. Jim's wife and my wife are willing but we need three more drivers so no one gets stuck doing much of the driving.

Chuck