Gold Beach Lunatics

I joined the Gold Beach Lunatics on a paddle out and back on the Siltcoos River Water Trail.

This is a great way to go to the beach by canoe and kayak. The wildlife was great and the weather was a perfect fall day.

Pediatric Dentistry

I compiled these images and put them into a slide show just for fun.

Windy day in Bandon

Bandon Oregon gets some windy days and we were playing with our cameras. Gay took this picture of me and I took the images of the Coast Guard practicing surfing skills in a big boat. There are also some pelicans touring the beach.

Umpqua River Kellog to Elkton.

Umpqua River Photo Trip

This is what we call Umpqua River gridlock. Some turkeys in a traffic jam have to see what the hold up is ahead.
The weather was in transition with rain off and on. It made for a beautiful trip. We kept putting rain gear away then getting it out. The tent was a disappointment. We had 2 inches of rain water inside the tent. The items we were most concerned with were with us in the tent and got wet. This did not dampen the enthusiasm for the great trip.

This is a view before you get to the rapid at the Big K ranch.
This is the wide rapid that has a lot of currents that come in at different angles making it difficult. The foam with a big rock in the middle encouraged us to portage this drop.
The overcast day made diffused light, for great picture taking. I liked the erosion patterns of the sandstone river bed.

Native caones on Empire Lakes

Doug Barett from the Confederated tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians teaches youth to paddle a head canoe on Empire Lakes. Note the cedar wreath on the bow and the cedar hat on Doug.

















The race is on a "Head" canoe vs a "Yourk" canoe. Both of these boats were used in this area by the local people. The Head canoe was faster but not as fast as our Mad River canoe. Our advantage was being a thousand pounds lighter and having seats where the paddles reached the water better. We also had a 40 year experience advantage.

Bob Sleeth came out to paddle different types of canoes. He has much patience to put up with my incessant lecturing on how to canoe. Here he is paddling a Royalex Mad River. The afternoon winds were making it difficult to control so he shifted his weight to sit in the front seat backwards. You can still see the bow is out of the water and wanted to weather cock in the wind.

Everyone needs to know where is the tipping point for your boat. Bob is finding out for himself how far can you lean before you swim. He kept the canoe dry in this experiment. I was impressed with his courage, bracing the canoe with only one hand on the paddle.

More images of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Beach grass where the old homstead for the light keeper and family was with the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in the background.
The impressive iron work stairs all brought in by boat.
The 1000 watt electric light inside the French imported lense. The signature signal is two seconds on, two seconds off, then two seconds on and 14 seconds off.
Common Murrers through a spotting scope. Near the center at 10:00 is a chick among the nesting birds. This guano covered rock was only 5o yards off shore and had quite an odor.

Fascinating floating islands

While crossing the bog Martin caputured this great black bear picture as I paddled him into position. They are rather timid during the day.



You can see my foot sinks up to the ankle as you walk on the floating mass of boggy stuff.
Martin is standing on the edge of a hole the water is more than 8 feet deep. At least that is as far as I was willing to stick my arm and paddle into the holes.
It seems this plant has very little chlorophyll with the bright reds.

One of many holes that would be a bad idea to fall into. Latter in the day we spotted a mature Bald Eagle and a young lone bear. It was a great paddle. I was very glad I had ignored the weather reports of rain.

Tahkenitch Lake

It was a fine warm overcast day to canoe Lake Tahkenitch. The overcast made for little wind and great difuesed light for taking pictures. Martin and I put in up 5 mile arm and launched a Mad River Canoe I wanted to test the repaired seats of. I had refinished the bright work and replaced the wicker seats with parachute cord I wove around the ash frames.

This sea monster looking at its reflection greated us as we paddled for the quaking islands.

You can see the ripples in the water as Martin walks on the edge of the floating vegetation.
Animal trails mostly beaver and otter have worn the thick moist moss with their little feet.
This is a beaver lodge hidden in the rushes. You see very few lodges for beaver in Oregon mostly they just dig a hole in the bank of the lake or river.

Portland Sunrise

I spent the weekend in Salem, Portland and Lincoln City with lots of stops in between. While in Portland I just happened to have a canoe on the van and while waiting for my wife, I went for a morning paddle.The sun was reflecting off the buildings as it rose over the Rose City. It was a perfect Friday the 13th on the Willamette River.
I was not the only early morning boater. Lots of rowers and Dragon Boat paddlers were getting their exercise too under the many bridges. As a newbie to the area it did take a little time to find a safe place to park and launch. This is near the OMSI parking lot under the Morrison Street Bridge. There were lots of empty parking spots when I arrived at 5:40 A. M. but by take out time of 9:00 they were all full of cars. I was a little concerned about the homeless asking for money and admiring my gear as I left my valuables in the van.

I was most impressed with this river art that can only be seen from the water. I had to wonder who would go to the effort and risk arrest to paint this image.

On the way home we stopped at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and took the tour. They have a nice interpretive center with volunteers to answer questions. It was worth the $5 entry fee.

I also spent a few hours on Devils Lake near the Outlet Mall in Lincoln City. While paddling for exercise I noticed a large ski boat with black smoke billowing out the stern. The crew was taking turns paddling with a single blade to shore on opposite sides of the boat. I approached in my 10' 6" canoe and asked if they needed help. They thought I was nuts to offer to rescue a 1500 pound hull with an inboard outboard motor while I am in a boat that weighs 24 pounds. I threw them a 40' line that was tied to my forward thwart and with it tied to their painter, towed them to shore. When I reached the dock I ran the line around the dock and began pulling them in. A bystander came to help. I untied to get out of the way from their massive crushing hull against my fragile little boat in the 2 foot waves as the bystander pulled them in. It was ironic the big boat with the 250 hp. motor was unable to control its movement as well as I could control it with no motor.

This lucky day 7/7/7 at 7:00 A. M. the Happy Paddlers back yard adventure.


With less than a days notice two new paddlers enlisted in this lucky adventure. We already had a breeze so Troy, Eteban and I headed into the North West to put the wind at our backs on the way home. The North Bend Bridge is an impressive structure when you are in a little canoe and it towers over you. The seagulls made a lot of noise and warned us off of their territory with several near misses of whitewash. We were very lucky.




We took the hint after a few pictures of the returning Coast Guard Cutter, Orcas passing in front of the North Bend Hanger.

Lucky again to see the Orcas returning to home port in front of the airport hanger with two birds in the foreground.

The two dark birds in the foreground may be loons. One had a white neck band.

We paddled to this island and found a skull. It was about the size of an otter head and looked a little long for a racoon. I did not know if the otters had molars.

Lucky to find an interesting skull to examine.

The wind shadows made a huge difference when the hills stopped the 25-30 mph gusts.

This crab molt was on a bed of Pickle Weed, which had little yellow flowers. We collected two trash bags of litter from the island and began the journey home in an overloaded 15'6" boat with three adults. The winds had generated white caps and 3 foot waves were building in the ship channel as the tide ran against it. Heading into the waves with a small angle we crossed the bay a quarter mile above our destination. At the crest of a lucky wave we spun around the canoe and ran with the wind. Using strong braces and rudder strokes we enjoyed the roller coaster ride back to the dock. Troy and Esteban were troupers and never complained. I did indulge their request for a bailer as the bilge water increased to ankle deep. The real test of their assurances they enjoyed the trip will be if they ever return for another adventure with the Happy Paddlers.

No doubt about it this was a luck day for a beautiful adventure out our back door.

Flotsum from the derelict New Carissa.


The beach is looking fairly clean I saw no bunker fuel or bird deaths like in the past when visiting her.

Wednesday June 26, 2007 I went for a hike to see the New Carissa before our State wastes 20 million dollars removing an interesting artifact of government incompetence.

The local tug boat captains, salvage divers and general public have told me they believe when this boat first ran aground there were people in Coos Bay ready willing and able to save the ship. Unfortunately the captain left the boat via Coast Guard helicopter and when he did the chain of command was broken.




The story I was told is the unified command was set up of State and Federal staff that spent millions of dollars ruining this savable ship. They had insurance money to spend and anxiously spent as much as possible very quickly. It seemed if they were more interested in playing with the pyrotechnics and guns than saving the ship. They set the vessel on fire, they bombed it shot it with cannons they even broke it in half. They drug the bow out to sea and lost it on another beach which also was fouled with bunker fuel before finally sinking it with a torpedo. We were glad their arsenal did not contain a nuclear weapon.


Fishing boat off the beach next to the New Carissa.



















Close up of the listing stern covered with marine growth on flood tide.






















Shells and treasures on the Oregon Beach with the New Carissa in the background.

Joe Approaching Clarno Rapids

When Mike Graybill offered the use of his solo unblemished canoe to run the John Day, I had great reservations. The first scratch on a canoe is always a little traumatic. I knew 70 miles of river would have many opportunities to scratch the unblemished bottom. The river guide even suggested some of the rapids were of a questionable nature for an open canoe. Clarno rapid was rated class IV depending on water level. Now that was a little confusing knowing that low water levels can make rapids more difficult and higher water can have a similar effect. The rating did not say at what level the river was rated at.

A canoe is like a woman they have some things they like and others they do not tolerate. It takes a while to learn these idiosyncrasies which I did not have time to learn. A canoe with tumble home is easier to paddle but will not have the same final stability as one with flare. A canoe with a flat bottom will paddle faster and one with rocker will turn easier. With this ambiguous information I began to plan.

I wanted to be safe and self sufficient so brought everything from Sterno to cook with (no open fires allowed) to a portable toilet.

This is a no trace camping area and all human waste is to be packed out. I had a "garage sale" bucket with bags and a toilet seat. Not being one to waste money I purchased kitty litter to control the odor and prevent liquid spillage from the filled bags. This was on sale, a waterproof one gallon plastic jug of baking soda kitty litter was $4.50.

To secure the river bags into the boat and provide extra flotation I tied ropes under the inside of the gunwale the length of the boat. Then I tied a dozen prussic knots with parachute cord along the rope. This allowed connection points to secure the river bags, water jugs, kitty litter, and toilet in case of a capsize. River bags were filled with fluffy items to provide extra flotation. This meant I had more bags than would fit in the canoe and had to tie my bedroll on top. I made the best of this by using it as a back rest behind the seat. On flat water I used this as a seat.

Swallows on the painted red cliffs.

Green rocks on the banks of the John Day

Camp Host

Sunrise on the painted hills