Early Morning Paddle
We often load up the kayaks and head up river to the Cedaroak Boat Ramp in West Linn. It’s a real easy access for getting the boats in and out and if you go early, you don’t need to be concerned about parking.
Most of the time we like to head upstream for about an hour then return downstream. Sometimes, if the wind is blowing the wrong way, it doesn’t make much difference but typically in the early morning (before 9:00) the wind isn’t blowing and the water is like glass.
For this particular trip, we decided to head downstream first, to Hog Island, which takes about 45 minutes down and 45 back, at a leisurely pace anyway.
The boat ramp is really geared toward boats with trailers and, except for especially busy days, there’s plenty of parking if you have a trailer but with a single vehicle, your options are more sparse and you’ll get a ticket for parking a car in a trailer spot. One option is to paddle with friends and park two cars in one trailer spot. I’ve never heard of tickets for that, especially if you have kayak racks on top of the vehicles.
Going early has some real advantages, other than parking. The ski boats usually aren’t out yet, so the water is calm and the wildlife is all up getting breakfast.
Wildlife
We’ve seen many of Eagle snatching an early breakfast out of the Willamette and the Osprey are also very plentiful.
Deer, ducks, geese and herons are also abundant in the morning hours.
It’s quite the treat to see an Osprey snatch breakfast from the river to be instantly chased by a Bald Eagle who is either after their breakfast or just chasing them from their territory.