RIBnet Columbia River Meet - 31 Mar / 1 Apr 2007

[Donnie144]

If you guys get a RIb rodeo put together any where near Washington I would love an invite.

[PacificNWrib]

Donnie,

We sure will. I think it would neat to do a Columbia river run or a Puget Sound run. Either one will have plent of gas stops, the Columbia river has the dam issue.

JB

[Donnie144]

Columbia either way sounds like a good deal…you’re back on the water. Hopefully what ever you decide it’s up and running by spring

JB either way I’m game. I have yet to do a Columbia river run and have been wanting too. But pub hopping in the sound or just cruising is also fun. I comfortably have about a 70 mile range on mine so depending on where we go and how much fuel we go through we could always through a couple 5 gallon jugs on my boat. I don’t think I have ever needed to refuel in a day. But I’ve also never done a full day of running it’s usually run to dive site stop or idle and then run to the next.

[prairie tuber]

Where on the Columbia R. would you guys start? When would you go for it & how many days would you plan for?

[Donnie144]

Prairie Tuber I don’t know the Columbia at all except for the small portion near Portland and the small area near Wenatchee so hopefully someone smarter then I can plan this. But if you think you could make it down for a run on the Columbia then I would be game to trailer out to the north eastern side of the state so your run wouldn’t be as long. If we wanted to do the sound I can plan that one. As for how many days? I have a lot of vacation time planned all ready this year so I would be able to join in on 1-3 days.

[portoflongview]

hi guys....

columbiachop and pacificnwrib and i are down on the lower section of the river so no dams to deal with and down here, we also have trees unlike the dessert stretches... makes it a little nicer on the eyes... lots of wild life too seals, eagles etc.. good beaches too... also being right off i5 makes it really easy to get to.

two ways to go either toward the mouth or up towards portland with lots to see in between.


seeya -pd

[columbiachop]

i agree. the lower columbia is very beautiful. if we started in portland or even longview, we could make a day of it (each way). i think from longview it would be somewhere around 50 miles to the ocean.

there would be a great stop in cathlamet for fuel, drinks, and food. then there is several cool little towns between there and astoria. astoria is a great finish place as it is a beautiful old port town. the columbia river bar starts around there and if the weather permited, we could cross and officially make it to the pacific.

the columbia river bar is the roughest section of water in the u.s. so it can be fun and interesting. big waves, currents fighting against them, and moving sandbars make it the "pacific graveyard".

it's a grand finale

my families place is about halfway there and has a dock/shop in case we needed tools, fuel, etc.

[PacificNWrib]

Either way is fine with me. I think we should start in Portland and head towards the coast. Also, if we did an eastern trip through the Gorge. There are a lot of towns on the river and the Full Sail brewery in Hood River. Both trips would be a blast.

I think a two day trip would work out fine. One day towards the coast and a day back to Portland. I will work on the details and shoot for sometime in March or April?

Comments or suggestions?

Donnie,

A trip up the sound would be awesome! Final destination at Friday Harbor or somewhere in the San Juans. We could make that a two day trip during the summer months and camp overnight on one of the islands. I used to live in Redmond and a couple of us launch in Kirkland, ran through the Ballard Locks and came back through and had dinner on Lake Union.

O.K., I am really stoked!

[Donnie144]

Hey guys all three sounds like awesome trips to me and count me in for any or all of them. The first trip in March or April also work great I’m in Utila diving from March 8-18th so later March or any part of April would be awesome. I’ve only been on the Columbia fishing so any trip would be new to me and a lot of fun. Are we looking at camping or hoteling it? Me personally I’m always up for a good steak cooked over a fire.

As for the San Juan’s let’s do it. I have a couple friends coming for a week of diving July 21-30 so that time frame is out for me. As for places to stay up there there are several Islands that are camping only and usually first come first serve. With that being said I have also never not found a place to camp either. If we wanted to base camp in one spot and take day trips I could run the fifth wheel up to Anacortes Friday morning and stake out a couple spots at Washington Park they have a nice boat launch there and just make day trips.

Sounds like we have got a good summer starting to evolve.

[Stoo]

According to Google Maps, it's only 4,038 miles! Count me in... I wish...