welshkate

The Willamette River winds its way from its source high in the Cascades, south of Eugene until it meets the Columbia river, close to Portland. As it meanders through the central valley it affords those of us who live in Corvallis a backyard opportunity to float with it (and the central valley’s pollution) for a while. Paddling this section of river allows kayakers to experience sights such as the Wondrous Walls of Willamette. Yesterday, Sera and I had the same idea; it was a sunny day and we both wanted to do a local run right after work. Sera has a slalom boat and I have an vintage perception Saber and both boats are great for upstream attainment and downstream sprints. We put in in Peoria, 7 miles east of Corvallis.

Photos: Sera and I pausing for moment to take in the beauty of the Willamette walls.

The run was  flat water with some fast current pushing us along.  On this occasion, we were treated to a particularly sensory experience. The scenery was lovely in parts, with a glorious view of sunset over Mary’s peak, but the accompanying smell was slightly less appealing with tinges of sludgy fertilizer, chemicals, and paper mill. Yum. We managed to convince ourselves it actually smelled like hops and hence like a brewery- I’m sure the Rouge would love to hear that! At least the thought of beer made that river section tolerable.

 To be fair, it is great to have a river like this in our backyard. And we did see a beaver.