Hira,
It's George we spoke several months ago about your trip down the Snake and Columbia rivers. You gave me a great deal of information and you E mailed me your pre planning material. On Sept 2, 2014 my friend Steve and I launched my "22' C Dory Cruiser" at Clarkston Washington after towing it 800 miles from Concord CA. Your valuable information was used throughout the trip. The best bit of advice was to go in September. The weather was beautiful warm breezes and glassy smooth water. Seen only two floating logs on the entire trip. What I didn't know until we got there was they stopped letting out water of all the Dams on Sept 1. So we didn't get the wild rides you had when you exited the locks just more placid water. I had hoped to take a couple of months but unfortunately I could only get away for a month. It took us three weeks to get to Astoria. I rented a car and went back to Clarkston and retrieved my truck and trailer. There were days of gentle Easterly breezes and two days of a 30 knot gusting to 60 knot Easterly blow. Just before the blow started we had pulled into Washougal Washington for lunch there was this floating Tropical cafe which we tied up to. When the wind picked up the cafe blocked the wind so we stayed put for two days until it died down back to gentle breezes. The entire trip went like that good luck all the time. I often could travel along between 20 and 30 MPH. The Snake's river's beauty and remoteness was more awesome than I had anticipated.
I would like to return to the Snake and just explore. We stopped at most of the places you stopped at. Had a great dinner and spent the night at Clover Island hung out in Hood River and fished for Salmon an Sturgeon. Went up the Willamette past Portland and spent a couple of days in Portland and had Voodoo doughnuts. Hung out in Astoria for a few more days of salmon fishing. I had been preparing for this trip for a year and all my preparations were good, the engine hummed nothing broke or malfunctioned. I'm thinking about going to the San Juan Islands next June and back to Clarkston in September. I like being on my boat going to new places meeting friendly people in Marinas. More fun than staying home. Thank you for your blog and your phone call. I will be checking out your other trips. A few pictures are attached. George
Thank you George, for giving us all a look into your window of opportunity. I hope this posting will inspire others to dream big and follow their hearts. When you start planning your San Juan Island Trip give me a call. Perhaps we can meet and cruise some together.
