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

That 2 miles I thought it was? Yeah, that was 2 miles from the Airport Road! LOL. More like total of 5 miles. But a nice path, and all downhill. I needed the exercise after sitting for 2500 miles! Did some Geocaching along the way, and even found a nice painted rock! So no complaints! Beautiful day. Sunny and 70. Wish that was sticking around the entire river for a few weeks!

Also, just remembered. Coming out, I only had one inspection to deal with. When I came into Montana on I94, they usually have watercraft pull into that first truck weigh station, as they have a setup there. It was around 5:30p when I came thru, and the boat inspectors had already called it a day. However, there was another inspection station set up just north of Butte, and I did have to stop there. Rather quick inspection though. 38 degrees and a passing snow squall! I jokingly asked the guy if I was the only boat that day. He said I was actually number 10! Guess I'm not the only fool towing a boat through the Montana mountains! Colby
 
Hey all you C-Brats in Idaho...hope you have a great trip....very excited for your journey down the river!!!!

Have to work this week otherwise I would be on this trip with you. Live in the Portland area so have boated all of the Columbia from Cascade Locks to just shy of Astoria.

The Knotty C and Amy, Teddi and I just spent Saturday night at Beacon Rock. Beautiful weather...went up Saturday morning from Jame Gleason boat ramp near the airport to run 28 miles then back on Sunday afternoon.

When are you rolling through the Portland area and where are you spending the nights near here? If you have any issues and need a hand give a call five zero three seven twenty forty ninety.

Have a GREAT and SAFE trip!!!!

All the best,

John
 
Knocked out the first day today. 80 miles. Actually went better than I thought. Calm waters all the way. About 20 minutes waiting at the two locks. Regarding the locks, compared to the Mississippi River locks, I've never seen water drain so fast. And no turbulence either. Would have liked to seen the water flow where it was coming out! We have seen a lot of debries in the Snake River today. In fact, the twin guys were talking about who had the biggest logs caught in front of their motors! (I promised I wouldn't say anything about how Singles seemed to be the better choice today!) :mrgreen: In fact, going into the second lock, we had to push logs out of our way just to get in. Looks like we are in for rain the next few days, and had some today also. Still, shaping up to be a fun trip! I'll see if this slow internet here will allow me to upload a few photos from today to the thread's photo album. Colby
 
That’s all good to hear. Well, not so much the rain part but the good day part is. There’s some rain going on at this end of your route too. And some 50mph winds. That’ll all clear up before you get here we hope.

Pics are great - thanks! Enjoy tomorrow.
 
Today was another good day. No rain. Calm, glassy smooth water. About 3 miles before each dam, we started seeing a lot more wood in the water again. But everyone managed to get thru without sticking (pun intended) their motors/props. We had to wait about half an hour at the second lock (Ice Harbor) as they finished some work. The lock master informed us this lockage would be a little slower than the previous ones as he would not be able to drain the water as fast. None the less, once again I was impressed with just how fast they can dump the locks. About 3 or 4 times the speed of the Mississippi locks. And just as calm as the glassy smooth water we came down on. According to the lock master at Ice Harbor, the other locks drain the water thru some pipes downstream. However, he said their lock discharges off the side, and it is an impressive show. Wish we could have seen it. I certainly heard the water roaring on the other side of the lock wall, and could even feel the vibration when the "drain" started. If you haven't yet gathered, I've done a fair share of locking on the Mississippi River and Chicago sanitary and ship canal, and thru a local little lock on one of our Madison rivers. And these Snake River locks wowed me a lot more! :D We saw no tows yesterday or today, although we did see one tug heading up stream yesterday with out a load. Today's excitement was missed by all but one. I saw some deer or antelope on the port bank, and then Cat Claw had several deer swimming across the river in front of him. Docked at Cloverleaf Marina tonight in Port of Kennewick, and looks like we might just sit tight here tomorrow, due to some high wind forecasts. I'll upload today's photos to the album.
 
I drove the Columbia last night from Boardman (Pendleton) to Portland. One tug and barge heading up river at the Arlington turn. Winds out of the west, 5 to 10, minimal waves less than 1 foot. Winds increased west of The Dalles to 15 maybe 20 ahead of the rain. Heavy rain from Hood River west to Ptld. I did see the stern wheeler, Columbia Gorge just above Hood River. It is based out of Cascade Locks, and runs up as far as TriCities at times.

Good choice to hang out up river for a while. Might take a run up the Columbia towards Hanford Reach. Good wildlife viewing possibilities there.

Stay safe, and keep a weagher eye.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Very windy day here yesterday. Today’s forecast has winds under 10mph but some rain. Looks like our plans today are to shoot for the Port of Arlington. Little ways beyond Boardman so it’ll be a bit of a long day. However Floyd on Far C found it and with fuel. Otherwise at least for me it would have been tight on getting between here and Hood without a fuel stop. As it didn’t look like any fuel available in between. Initially we did not know about this marina as it was not on the charts. More winds forecast this evening though.
 
Following this thread is like reading a good adventure novel. Only we’re only served a few pages a day. If it was a novel, I would have read ahead by now cause I want to know the next adventure and how it ends. I Guess I’ll have to be patient. Best of luck and safety to all of you!
 
Made it home last night. Had some rain but most of the river east and north was calm. Got through the Lower Granite Lock with very little waiting. Had to wait for the Lower Goose Lock about 20 minutes as they were working on something. Thanks to everyone for helping the "newbies" on their first river adventure. Sorry we had to leave early but glad to be home for the family event. John & Kitty on Firefly.

Colby, thanks for the updates. they're great.
 
John, glad you and Kitty got back ok. I was wondering how your trip back went. I'm still impressed at how fast we've gotten into and through the locks. 20 minutes is really nothing...

Sagebrush, it's not raining right now! :mrgreen:

Arlington is a nice marina, it is however a little noisy because of the train tracks and I-5.
Click to expand...
No Kidding. It's going to be a long night I thinks.... Hopefully we'll be use to the noise, vibration and horns by bed time! Seems like about 3 or 4 an hour... (Talking about the trains. The auto traffic is hardly noticable!) But still a nice marina for overnight. Electricity, water and a head not to awfully far away that is on solid ground. Even a modern Porta Potta dump station right here on the dock! No shower though.... The Port of Kennewick marina was pretty nice last 2 nights. Showers could have been a little closer, and a little cooler. I like my hot tubs with water that hot, but not my showers! (It was one of those one button jobs. Push the button, and you get a set water temp for about 30 secs then have to push the button again. But you couldn't beat the marina price at $10/night. Tonight it's $20/night, and that's still pretty cheap for what I'm use to on the other side of the Mississippi River! A few of us did go into town yesterday in Kennewick. Lew and I borrowed some bikes from the hotel across the street from the marina, while the others walked in later.

Today was pretty straight forward. 80 some miles. Left about 7:45a this morning from Kennewick, and pulled in here about 2p. McNary Lock was waiting for us when we got there. We've been running about 14 kts, 16 mph. Once again, Lew on Cat Claw found something neat. This time it's an old rebuilt USCG Surf Boat. I'll upload some photos soon. Right here in the marina with us. River was mostly relatively calm. Just down river from Kennewick we had maybe 4 miles of 1 foot chop, but then it smoothed out again as we rounded the corner. Sprinkles most the day. Later tomorrow the forecast shows some higher winds again. Not sure when "later" is. And not sure what the plans are yet. We'll wing it in the morning. Maybe just head out and go as far as The Dalles? Colby
 
Colby, you are the champion at CBGT updating! Thank you and the other folks very much for the great reports!

Take your time getting to my house. Although the storm is forecast to subside in the next few days, this is what the end of your river looked like a little bit ago.



Capture_003.png


I thought about washing your truck for you, but I wouldn't be able to keep the soap suds on.
 
I guess that means Buoy 10 wouldn't happen today? :mrgreen: We had some pretty good winds yesterday while docked securely at Port of Kennewick. But even the little lagoon we were in was pretty choppy! It was a good day to stay put. Otherwise, we've had some very smooth water while traveling. Sure hope it stays that way. I think we are still ahead of schedule a day, even with the sit yesterday. Thanks for the thought on washing the truck. But I suspect the rains will do a good job of it.

BTW, in case the upload of the website doesn't work so good on the photo in the album, this is the story that talks about that old USCG surf boat:

http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2016/oct/15/restoring-history-afloat/
 
Colby - we have been watching you on Marine Traffic when you are visible. Today your signal was lost after leaving Kennewick and still has you sitting there. We were hoping to drive to the Columbia tomorrow to see you all there - but where is there? When you know where you are headed, could you post it?

Not creepers here, just new to this forum and interested in learning about C Dorys - have been to a couple of dealers but otherwise have not seen many. Hope that we can find you and visit a bit.

Thanks for all the sharing you have done. We traveled the Columbia (by automobile) from Arlington and up the Snake to Lewiston last week - great weather then!! We visited the dams and parks, thinking about all of you and your trip ahead.
 
Bummer about my AIS signal not getting picked up. I thought once we reached the Columbia, due to commercial traffic, there would be receivers picking it up. Not sure how the stations are set up, but know it works on VHF. Tonight we are at the Port of Arlington. We may be at The Dalles tomorrow, just not sure. I'll try to remember to update this first thing in the morning if we decide to depart. Colby

P.s. Just found another AIS tracker. Try this one.
https://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=338131849
 
We picked you up around 8:30 this morning doing 13.2 knots, so we were able to wing it and calculate fairly close when you would arrive at Arlington, taking into account lock time at the dam. With Marine Traffic, we take what we get happily - such a great website for us desert dwelling boat and ship voyeurs!

Thanks for the new link - you are there! I should have thought to check that one - new laptop and my favorites are not all up yet...
 
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