Beacon Rock Cruise16-21 June 2004
16 June 2004 Wed: We depart Scappoose moorage at 1200hrs, after a nice morning drive down and preparing the boat for travel. The skies are blue and no clouds in sight. Soon after heading upriver on the Multnomah channel Care spots an eagle landing in a tree and soon discovers a huge nest in a large cottonwood tree. Its a pretty spectacular sight. This trip will be fun with Care’s exceptional knowledge of birds. We cruise by all the floating homes and turn down the Willamette River at 1345. By 1410 we are on the Columbia heading east with lots of current coming down river. We pass numerous ships through Portland’s harbor all from various foreign ports and all anchored waiting for loading. Several tug and barge combinations pass up and down river.
We slug our way up river with the swift spring run-off slowing down to under 5 knots and finally reach the new docks at Barlett’s Landing on Government Island at 1700 hrs. Lewis and Clark named this island Diamond island because of its shape. While we can go ashore to the toilets and camping areas we cannot venture onto the island. History tells us the island is now named for the government growing hay for the horses housed at Ft Vancouver. The new docks are really nice and the current flows pretty fast through the whole place. We meet some other boaters and find out more local knowledge of the areas we plan to explore. One boat is a unique Californian 30 with a 6 cyl Cat Diesel owned by a lady with her husband. She is the Captain. He tells stories of the glacier history of the Columbia.
Day’s run 24 nm
Day’s run 24 nm
