As I may have mentioned in my post yesterday, there is so much to see when the river levels get high after a lengthy period of rain. And today, my friends, was no different! This was a first-time visit for me and I loved every bit of it!!!
Our journey began at Rogers Landing County Park in Newberg. But first, let me say something about the weather. I’ve seen the forecast of dry weather ahead and some sunshine and so the thought of going out on the water today was even more enticing. When I left Albany at 9am, it was cloudy and looked no different than all of the previous days. But, once I approached Salem, via I-5, the clouds were all gone and it’s was 100% sunny weather. It was so perfect!
Back to my kayaking adventure! There were 6 of us in our group and we all meshed really well together. (Your whole trip can be significantly different when you’re with the “wrong” type of folks.) At any rate, we hit the water at Rogers Landing boat ramp and began our trek southward on the Willamette River. Remember, the Willamette River flows south to north. However, the river is very wide at Rogers Landing and it was an easy paddle up river to Chehalem Creek.
The sun was shining so brilliantly and I was so grateful!
Last year, myself and several others attempted to paddle up Chehalem Creek, but there was a large blockage and the water was significantly lower than today. But today – success!
The creek was wide enough throughout to make it a fairly easy paddle. We did encounter a few semi-blocked areas and had to find a way to pass through. Creative paddling, rocking back and forth, and sheer energy propelled us all forward!
Almost immediately after entering the creek, we began to notice Heron. I’m not talking about one or two. I think all together we saw around a dozen (or more)! They were so well hidden in the trees that by the time I noticed one and reached for my camera, they flew away! But, they were everywhere – flying all around us. It was a really neat experience and fun to watch them.
Today’s journey was so awesome! The sun shining brilliantly helped a ton! But, there was just so much to look at. It didn’t take long before we came upon a Hazelnut orchard. In fact, we paddled right through it. I was able to take a few great close-up pictures as well and one from afar.
I would guess that at least a third to half of the orchard was under water, but it didn’t seem to affect the nut trees at all. They all had buds on them.
As we continued our journey, we spotted a bridge which carries traffic along OR-18.
Our goal was to paddle under the bridge. But, as you can see in the photograph, we encountered a complete blockage. These logs have obviously been there for awhile as they were all stacked on top of one another. One of our kayakers had a hand saw and tried to cut a path through the blackberry bushes on the right, but to no avail.
So, we had reached the furthest point of our kayaking adventure and we had to turn around. However, we went a long distance and this was only possible because of all the rain we have received. Once we reached the Willamette River, it was so pretty! Even though it’s the first week of January, it really felt like a Spring day.
Below, you will find a map of our journey, posted next to a picture of what it looks like when the river is much lower!
If you look closely at the 2nd map, you’ll see a faint blue line. This is the normal route of Chehalem Creek. The photo on the left shows all the places we kayaked today. The one point I want to make is that we didn’t kayak everywhere there was water. This is just a representation. But, the next time we get a lot of rainfall and the river level rises to the point it was today – GO!
It was such a fun journey and I’m really grateful for the invitation to join!
2025 – Kayak Trip #3
