My first thought upon arriving today and seeing the water level? HOLY SMOKES! If you haven’t kayaked at Minto-Brown Island Park during the winter time – GO! In fact, go either Monday or Tuesday (1/6 or 1/7) as the water level is supposed to peak during those two days.
Let me back up and tell you about my journey. Myself and two other ladies entered the water straight from the first parking lot on your right after turning on to Minto Island Rd SW. Normally, even when the water level is high, you usually have to cart your kayak down the paved walking trail to meet up with the water. But, not today. The water level was so high, it was visible and useable from the parking lot. (The parking lot is designated with the blue P mark at the bottom of the map below.)
When you look at this map, the water is normally quite a distance from the parking lot. Not today!
We entered the water and began our kayaking journey. As you can imagine, the first part of our kayak trip was ridden with bushes and trees and branches. In some places there were no obstacles at all, and other places required some careful maneuvering. Don’t get the wrong impression here! It was all easy to do, even for a novice kayaker.
You can enter the main body of water by following the water line on the map. However, the water was so high, that it covered a lot of the green and white area and thus we went exploring. One of the first things you will encounter will be the sign posted giving directions. This sign is approximately 7 ft. tall. Today – just the top part was visible. What was interesting is that when we passed by the first time, we took photos and noticed where the water line was on the signage. When we returned several hours later, the sign was another 3-4 inches under water.
In the photo to the left, that is when our journey began and you can clearly see the arrows and words on the 2nd sign down. The photo on the right is when we returned and the water level was now half-way up the arrows and letters. It was kind of startling to notice. Makes me want to go back tomorrow and see if the sign is completely covered with water or not.
Kayaking under and around all of the trees and bushes is always cool. It’s so pretty, even though most everything is lacking leaves and foliage. But, it just has a certain charm. I always keep my eyes wide open because you never know what you might see. Last year, I saw a Beaver swimming through the water and that is what my two kayaking friends saw today. Very cool.
I love these two photos I took today. Of course, the first one shows the new buds on one of the prevalent plants. If you’ve been following my blog posts, you will notice that these are the same buds that I saw on Jan. 1st. It’s just so cool to see something budding and growing when we’re still in the depths of winter.
The 2nd picture is the fungi I spotted growing atop a broken wood log in the water. It caught my attention because there was so much growing and mostly because of the big blob of yellow goop on the top. I’m sure one of my readers knows what that is, but for right now it is “goop.”
After we left the flooded area of the Willamette Slough, we entered the main body of water and began our journey east, out to the Taco Bridge. It is always such a marvel to me – the bridge. Why they built it that way is beyond me, but it’s cool to look at anyway.
This is actually a view coming from the other side. But, it’s a great photo showing the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge (it’s official name) and I love that I was able to capture the reflection on the water. Looking at the Taco Bridge? Is it making you hungry? he he
Now, normally, we would kayak under the bridge and then straight out to the Willamette River which is a short distance from the bridge. But, when the water is as high as it was today, there is an entire section that is covered in water that isn’t normally. So, you travel under the bridge and then you’ll turn left (west) just after the bridge.
Voila! A whole new kayaking area that only appears when the water level is as high as it was today.
This is my very favorite tree that you can only see when the water level is high. I always think it looks like a giant hand with the fingers outstretched. It was difficult to photograph today due to the lack of sunshine, but I think it turned out ok.
The “hand” shows the way to the river. So, you turn right at the waterway right after you notice the hand. Then, you just follow the path of water all the way out to the Willamette River. The path isn’t super long, but today’s challenge is that there was a fairly strong current moving water towards me as the paddler, so once I decided to go all the way out to the river – you have to paddle and not stop until you reach where you want to stop…and then, hold on to something. I’m not kidding!
I reached the same log/tree that I did last year when I made this journey. It’s a great spot to watch the river. Yes, it was moving quickly!
I’ve kayaked down this section of the river and I’ll tell you what, the river is never moving this quickly! But, it’s all gorgeous and I loved sitting there and watching the water. I knew my friends hadn’t followed me, only because I couldn’t hear their voices any longer. So, I knew it was time to turn around and head back. I could have sat there for a lot longer.
When you turn yourself around, you are then moving with the current and it’s easy going.
This is a great picture showing just how much water there was today. As I mentioned already, all of this is normally dry or at least not approachable because there’s an embankment that you normally can’t kayak over.
This is, by far, my favorite part about kayaking here. I love the journey along the Willamette Slough and I especially love being able to kayak out to the river on the flood waters. But, no matter whether the sun is shining or not, the views heading back (westward) are always fabulous!
One of the things I especially love about kayaking in western Oregon is that there is always color – even in the dead trees. You will find new buds, and plant stalks that are turning a reddish color, the fir trees never shed, and even the bushes still show some berries. It’s truly fabulous!!
Upon making our return trip, you could see the sun fighting to immerse from the clouds. It never made it, but it’s always pretty to take a picture of its presence. And, of course, our last view is the walking bridge that we traveled under to go back to the parking lot where we had entered. Normally, you would have to get out at the walking path just before the bridge. But, as I mentioned earlier, the water was even higher than my last trip.
This was a fantastic kayak trip! I highly recommend you go in the next few days, if you can. If not, keep your eyes peeled on the water level chart that you can see online. When the water level is up around 19.5 ft. and higher – GO!!
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/14191000/
Thanks for reading and we’ll see where I venture off to next time!!
2025 – Kayak Trip #2
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