Woody Starr
Curious about Wooden Canoes
OK, so apologies up front - my friend and I did this trip in 1991 and I've told the stories many times but never written it down. I may ramble...
DISCLAIMER: This trip is not recommended to be undertaken in a canoe! People in Sea Kayaks have a difficult time, and it pays to have a strong understanding of tides, wind and currents and to plan ahead for emergencies.
When I first moved to Oregon from PA in 1990 I dreamed of bringing my canoe and exploring the lakes and estuaries out here. It wasn't until that summer when I was able to go back and fetch it that the research began. (as a youngster I'd done Saranac Lakes, Champlain and Lake George trips, as well as many excursions in the ADK's, Poconos etc...)
I found a place called Hart Mountain and Warner wetlands but it has a very short season and I was told mosquitos outnumber all other beings ten to one. It also has cyclical water only after "big" winters. It wouldn't be good for paddling this year, a ranger had told me. Then I came across a place called the San Juan Islands. I bought a map, found out that there are numerous islands you can set up a primitive camp and it's in "protected coastal waters".
Spring Break, 1991 We loaded up my (1927 Otca) canoe and some gear and headed out, not really knowing much about tides, weather conditions, currents and the like. If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough. Some things we could have known ahead of time to save some space in the boat were; There is ample fresh water available on the islands, driftwood makes fine campfires (if not sometimes a little smokey!) and tides MATTER. Also, there's significant wildlife in these waters...
The first night we arrived we found a state park on the mainland, just outside of Anacortes, WA and camped there. It had a boat launch so we figured it would be a good place to leave our car and set out right from there. The next morning dawned sunny and warm so we loaded up and were paddling by about 9:00am.
This first leg looked to be the biggest challenge of the trip, at least to our naive eyes. That's because its a big crossing of a busy shipping channel and seemed to be the most exposed water we would experience. So we set our backs to the task and made a bee line for a protected little bay on the West of James Island. We didn't know (sensing a theme here, yet?) how long that crossing would take so we were prepared to camp there the first night, but the crossing was uneventful and we were in that bay within a couple hours. Not even lunch time. Feeling overly confident we steamed ahead, rounding Decatur Island and the passage between it and Blakely Island to the North. What we failed to consider was the effect of wind direction opposing the tidal flow. If you're familiar with coastal currents, winds and tides, and their interactions then you can guess what occurred for us as we rounded the SW corner of Blakely Island and met a forceful afternoon wind out of the NW. Before we knew what was happening the water had turned into a two-foot chop with small white caps developing, and we began to take on water. Over the bow deck. On each wave.
Among the things we should have known ahead of time were the fact that we didn't need to carry enough fresh water for days, more like enough for hours and that we also didn't need to bring any firewood! As the boat started to accumulate water our situation became quite dire. Heading directly into the chop was going to swamp us, so we rounded a small rocky islet and quickly turned parallel to the waves and then paddled like our lives depended on it, because they did. Rounding another rocky shore (none of these are safe to land upon) I spotted a beach (Spencer Spit State Park) directly south, and we were able to travel downwind and land on the beach with about only 6" of water in the canoe. Our dry firewood was soaked, and we were pretty shell-shocked but safe and alive and we didn't have to swim. We unloaded, set up a giant bonfire and made camp for the night.
DAY ONE SAN JUAN ISLANDS BY CANOE. About 8nm paddling.
continued...
DISCLAIMER: This trip is not recommended to be undertaken in a canoe! People in Sea Kayaks have a difficult time, and it pays to have a strong understanding of tides, wind and currents and to plan ahead for emergencies.
When I first moved to Oregon from PA in 1990 I dreamed of bringing my canoe and exploring the lakes and estuaries out here. It wasn't until that summer when I was able to go back and fetch it that the research began. (as a youngster I'd done Saranac Lakes, Champlain and Lake George trips, as well as many excursions in the ADK's, Poconos etc...)
I found a place called Hart Mountain and Warner wetlands but it has a very short season and I was told mosquitos outnumber all other beings ten to one. It also has cyclical water only after "big" winters. It wouldn't be good for paddling this year, a ranger had told me. Then I came across a place called the San Juan Islands. I bought a map, found out that there are numerous islands you can set up a primitive camp and it's in "protected coastal waters".
Spring Break, 1991 We loaded up my (1927 Otca) canoe and some gear and headed out, not really knowing much about tides, weather conditions, currents and the like. If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough. Some things we could have known ahead of time to save some space in the boat were; There is ample fresh water available on the islands, driftwood makes fine campfires (if not sometimes a little smokey!) and tides MATTER. Also, there's significant wildlife in these waters...
The first night we arrived we found a state park on the mainland, just outside of Anacortes, WA and camped there. It had a boat launch so we figured it would be a good place to leave our car and set out right from there. The next morning dawned sunny and warm so we loaded up and were paddling by about 9:00am.
This first leg looked to be the biggest challenge of the trip, at least to our naive eyes. That's because its a big crossing of a busy shipping channel and seemed to be the most exposed water we would experience. So we set our backs to the task and made a bee line for a protected little bay on the West of James Island. We didn't know (sensing a theme here, yet?) how long that crossing would take so we were prepared to camp there the first night, but the crossing was uneventful and we were in that bay within a couple hours. Not even lunch time. Feeling overly confident we steamed ahead, rounding Decatur Island and the passage between it and Blakely Island to the North. What we failed to consider was the effect of wind direction opposing the tidal flow. If you're familiar with coastal currents, winds and tides, and their interactions then you can guess what occurred for us as we rounded the SW corner of Blakely Island and met a forceful afternoon wind out of the NW. Before we knew what was happening the water had turned into a two-foot chop with small white caps developing, and we began to take on water. Over the bow deck. On each wave.
Among the things we should have known ahead of time were the fact that we didn't need to carry enough fresh water for days, more like enough for hours and that we also didn't need to bring any firewood! As the boat started to accumulate water our situation became quite dire. Heading directly into the chop was going to swamp us, so we rounded a small rocky islet and quickly turned parallel to the waves and then paddled like our lives depended on it, because they did. Rounding another rocky shore (none of these are safe to land upon) I spotted a beach (Spencer Spit State Park) directly south, and we were able to travel downwind and land on the beach with about only 6" of water in the canoe. Our dry firewood was soaked, and we were pretty shell-shocked but safe and alive and we didn't have to swim. We unloaded, set up a giant bonfire and made camp for the night.
DAY ONE SAN JUAN ISLANDS BY CANOE. About 8nm paddling.
continued...