Portland Oregon area members?

[C Buchs]

This next spot is kind of like giving away one of my favorite fishing holes, but I trust that you guys won't share it with the whole world.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/tN8DM65bTYENg2PW7

The little patch of sand is about 13 miles from The Port of Camas-Washougal and is only big enough for one group. The outcropping of rocks provides great protection from the current and are also great for jumping off of. This spot is not protected from the wakes of other boats, so it wouldn't be a comfortable place to spend the night, but it's perfect for a stop on a warm afternoon. Sailing around this area is good. So I recommend sailing for a few hours and then checking out this spot to give everyone a chance to get off the boat.

I know we've taken pictures from here, but I can't find any. So this photo of Cape Horn Falls will have to do. This is about a mile downriver and my spot is just out of view to the right.



Jeff

[Russ]

Oh wow! That looks amazing. I'll have to save this point for the day I make it out there.

[NiceAft]

To heck with the fishing spot; I want to know about “PUZZLED WOMAN ROAD”

[C Buchs]

To heck with the fishing spot; I want to know about “PUZZLED WOMAN ROAD”

I've always looked at this spot with the satellite maps on and I've never noticed the name of that road. Now I want to know its history also!

Jeff

[C Buchs]

My next spot downriver is Rooster Rock State Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooster_Rock_State_Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/GUvTYvaf8FhuruEj8 This spot is about 10 miles from our home port. The park is named after a very phallic-shaped basalt monolith. Look at the pictures and read the description on the Wikipedia page. It's "interesting".

The beaches here are clothing-optional. I'm not comfortable being nude around other people, but if that's what you want to do it doesn't bother me.

The river is about 1/2 a mile wide here. The north side is a basalt cliff known as Cape Horn. Next to the cliff the water is over 100 ft deep. The middle of the river is only 10-12 ft deep and it gets to 2-3 ft deep hundreds of yards from Sand Island. Several islands in my home cruising grounds are named "Sand Island". I guess we're not that creative.

In this shallow area there is plenty of room for lots of boats to have a private place. We like to play football or frisbee. The dogs can touch, so they have a great time too. Sometimes we'll set up lawn chairs and a table with a grill.



Sand Island has very steep dunes that are really fun to climb to the top of and jump down.





The first time we anchored here for the night, we stayed on the north side of Sand Island. We got a nasty rocking in the middle of the night when a barge went by. If you want to camp for the night, we recommend staying on the east side of Sand Island. It's shallow and the sand shifts. So having someone on the bow to guide you is helpful. We've never seen anyone else stay the night here. So you'll probably have the place to yourself.



The sunrises are nice!



We don't usually stay the night. We usually stay till almost everyone else has headed home and enjoy the sunset.



It is so peaceful to sail by moonlight.



Jeff

[pitchpolehobie]

Great trip report & pictures - looks like a serene spot with stunning views. Im not so sure Id want to spent the night though with a "big rock monster" like that looming so close by Share some of those pics for the rotating front page pics!

[dlandersson]

Ditto

To heck with the fishing spot; I want to know about “PUZZLED WOMAN ROAD”

I've always looked at this spot with the satellite maps on and I've never noticed the name of that road. Now I want to know its history also!

Jeff

[Russ]

Looks like a private road. Named by someone with a sense of humor.
It's probably fun when they say their address over the phone to someone.
There is a road by our marina called "Knott A Road". Another called "Wrong Way"

This whole area looks so amazing. Isn't this the area where some of the DB Cooper money was found on the Columbia River?

[C Buchs]

This whole area looks so amazing. Isn't this the area where some of the DB Cooper money was found on the Columbia River?

I don't know exactly where some of DB Cooper's money was found, but I just read it was in Vancouver. So that would be about 20 miles downriver from this spot.

Jeff

[C Buchs]

My next spot is Reed Island State Park. https://maps.app.goo.gl/q6BLpExRfa1E75ESA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Island_State_Park

This spot is about 2-3 miles from our home port. The north side of the island is the first place we stayed the night on the boat. My wife wasn't confident, but it's a protected spot with little current. I knew that if everything went wrong, I could swim to shore and walk the trail home. Luckily, we didn't have any problems.

The water is deep enough to sail to the west and south of the island. East of the island has sand bars that move around. So watch your depth. We have an so too often its the keel bumping off the sand and swinging up that's our alarm.


When the water is up in the spring, you can circumnavigate the island, but in the summer you can enter the north side from the west. The sand is always moving, but my experience is that it's deeper closer to the island. There are often large cabin cruisers tucked in here, but our Macs can tuck way farther up in the shallows. There's even a little sandy beach that I found when we had little neighbor kids on board and it was super windy out on the river.

The beaches on the south side of the island are mostly ankle deep mud with a lot of logs. It's not protected from wakes. The logs are fun to climb on and you can take a spa-like mud bath.

The southeast corner of the island is shallow in the summer for a few hundred yards off the shore. This is another fun spot to stop and play frisby or football in the knee to waist deep water. The beach here is sandy with more of those logs to cimb on.

The east end of the island is the spot for camping on a beach. In the summer, there are usually boats here. Most just stay for the day. So you can usually sail around until sunset and then slip in for the night. The tree block the sunset on this end of the island, so people usually leave relatively early. This is a sandy beach, but when the water is low there are muddy spots.


From this camping spot you look east into the Columbia River Gorge and the sun rises right over the river between the mountains on both sides. I can't seem to find a picture of this, but Crown Point is just south of here. Check it out to get the idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Point_(Oregon)

Jeff

[MissionMac]

Thanks for these!

I took at look at the marina in Astoria and then went up to Olympia and checked out the ports in the South Sound Area. I’d love to trailer up there and cruise around the south sound for a week.

It’d also be fun to sail/cruise down the Columbia with the current to Astoria and trailer back. I like that idea.

I mainly sail around the NE of Hayden island and then pop over to the beautiful waterfront dock at Vancouver.

The Railroad bridge is intimidating and I’m never comfortable talking on the radio to request it opening. It says it’s 39 feet, but with my VHF antenna, Its too close for comfort to try to pass it without it opening.

[C Buchs]

We've made the trip down to Astoria and trailered back a few times. I'll post about that trip, but I have a couple of others upstream here before I get to that one. We've radioed to get the train bridge opened for us. It's a little intimidating at first, but really not a big deal. It's their job to open for us; they've always been nice and helpful.

Jeff

[C Buchs]

The next spot down the river is the Sandy River Delta. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gKtMCRCLn3zc1b9U6 This is right across the river from our home port. So we go here when we only have a couple of hours and the sailing isn't good. There are entrances on the west and east ends.

The east entrance is very shallow. It's sand so you probably won't dent your prop, but if you aren't careful, you will polish it. There usually isn't anyone here. For a quick afternoon trip, we tuck in here, drop anchor, go for a walk, let the dogs run, and go for a swim. The views of Mt. Hood are epic from here. Here's a shot of the moon rising next to it:



The picture makes is looks so small, but here's a view of the mountain from the water:



The west entrance is deep enough to enter most of the year. This is a popular spot for salmon fishing. In the summer there are a lot of sandy beaches here. We like to beach the boat, let the dogs run, and watch the sunset. Here's a nice picture:

[C Buchs]

We keep our boat in a slip at The Port of Camas-Washougal. https://maps.app.goo.gl/t2baDzLkkhtM295u8 Our home is less than 1/2 mile away. If you're in the area, there are transient slips and there's a fuel dock.

The restaurant here is also really good. Two of my kids currently work there.

The park to the east https://maps.app.goo.gl/nVT2BjaQBzytkH9c8 is relatively new with a lot of development going on around it. People set up their cameras to get pictures of Mt. Hood from here. Check out their photos using the Google Maps link. They're much better photographers than I am!

The park to the west is a historic park that my grandfather was a founding member of and I'm currently on the foundation of. https://maps.app.goo.gl/BFWW4sZcD9U7JqT49 This spot was the first "American" settlement north of the Columbia River and helped make the American claim to The State of Washington from The Canadians.

Jeff

[MissionMac]

We’ll have the check out the port over there. We haven’t headed up the gorge too much, but should, to learn the area.

I never considered the Sandy River. How far “in” are you able to go? It’s always packed with people in the summer on that river, so it’d be nice to pull up and have our own space in the boat!

We have friends with a boat up by The “Sand Island” in St. Helens. That’s a nice spot, as well as Martin Island. They’d be great spots to feature a bit more down river.