Willamette Falls Kayak Trip

I had heard about kayaking up to the base of Willamette Falls but never thought I'd actually do it. Willamette Falls is in Oregon City, one of the many cities surrounding Portland, Oregon, that is known as the end of the Oregon Trail. It is about 10 miles from my house. This is the description that Oregon.com gives to the falls: 

About the Willamette Falls: The Willamette Falls is a horseshoe-shaped block waterfall caused by a basalt shelf in the river bottom. The 42-foot-high and 1,500-foot-wide falls occurs 26 river miles upstream from the Willamette's confluence with the Columbia River. It's the largest waterfall by water volume in the Northwest and the 18th largest by volume. Around the falls are the locks, which are the oldest continuously operating multi-lift lock and canal system in the United States. Oregon.com

Surrounding the falls are derelict shells of old mills and factories, so that paddling up to the falls you have to pass by these old buildings. It's been described as a "zombie industrial land" by Jeremy Monroe, of Freshwaters Illustrated. And it's true. Hopefully someday that will all change. But for the purpose of this blog, I've focused on our river trip. You can Google Willamette Falls and Oregon City for more information. 

There are sturgeon, salmon and lamprey eels in this river and at the falls. As we were paddling up, a sturgeon jumped out of the river in front of Mr UAW's kayak, surprising us all. We also spotted an osprey that had caught a fish, he was flying around the river looking for a place to perch to eat his catch. And as I kayaked up to the base of the falls, I spotted salmon fins sticking out of the water. They quickly retreated into deeper waters. We didn't see any eels tho. 

We had some great tour guides, Denise and Norm. They were great and showed us the techniques to getting right up to the falls. We left at 11am. The weather was perfect, there was no wind, and it wasn't very busy with motor boats. This was a great time of the year to do this (end of August) because the water level was lower, the water was warmer, the weather was good. I wouldn't try this in the spring time or early summer, there would be too much water going down the falls for me. The whole trip took about 1:30. After we got off the river, we stopped to eat lunch and noticed that the motor boat activity had picked up. We counted at least 3 big tour boats going up the river, wowing their riders with quick spins and turns. There were also many jet skis. This was a trip that I would definetly do again. 

The river was so calm 

Bridge going into Oregon City 

    

This time of the year the falls look sectioned off, with their own little falls 

    

I'm in the orange kayak and Denise in the green one 

   

Proof we were there!

It's interesting to me to see bridges from the river view, I'm used to seeing them from the road. 

“It really looks like you’re paddling into is some kind of zombie industrial land.” —Jeremy Monroe, Freshwaters Illustrated