Rooster Rock to Coon Island Via the Gilbert River

20 June Sun: Father’s Day. I think of my father, Bob and talk often to Care about all the boating and fishing we did as kids and am grateful to have had parents who taught us about fishing and boats. We shoved off from Rooster Rock on a windless morning at 0845 going 9 knots down river zipping past all those places we had been, no headwinds, just engine and current. It is effortless. We had lunch onboard, continue down the Columbia River all the way to St. Helens, arriving at 1315 with a marina full of boats. We jockey for pump-out positions and soon we are pee free and on our way up the Multnomah Channel headed for Gilbert River. I had heard from a local that it is possible to take my boat all the way up to the mouth of Sturgeon Lake which is on Sauvie island. In the winter this is a refuge area to thousands of Canada Geese and my favorite, Sandhill Cranes, and is off limits to boating. I decide to go for it and we are surprised to find the river widening as we go up it. I was told that it gets very narrow, but the erosion of many wakes over the years has cut away the bank increasing its width. The depth ranged from 9 to 32 feet at the 90 bend by the fishing dock. We kept a close look out for dead heads and jet boats. It looked like the Georgiana Slough. We saw the lake and turned around at 6 knots and got back to the Gilbert river dock at 1615 and were docked in the shade of the east side of Coon island at 1640. After dinner and near sunset Care and I went for a loop trail on the south side and in the darkened canopy of cottonwoods we ran into an Owl sitting on a limb. Care stopped as it was about 10 feet away. Out of the corner of my eye only feet away was another staring at us with its yellow eyes. Then a third one fluttered above us. We figured one was baby and the others were its parents. We got to watch them for some time and then we scurried back to the boat to get the bird books and discovered we had found Screech owls. What a find. This was all new for me. We had time to examine them as they never flew away. What a picture I will carry in my mind’s eye.

Total 113nm