kayak camping waters...

I've hear alot about the kayak tours and travels around San Juans in Washington, the occasional Columbia River trips, and the obvious John Day area runs.  What other NW waters are viable options for the average kayaker to travel over a period of days or week?  Also, waterways that have legal camping along the way.

See the info at Washington Water Trails Association. ... http://www.wwta.org/trails/
-Allen

I've hear alot about the kayak tours and travels around San Juans in Washington, the occasional Columbia River trips, and the obvious John Day area runs.  What other NW waters are viable options for the average kayaker to travel over a period of days or week?  Also, waterways that have legal camping along the way.

The Willamette river (Oregon) is actually a very nice float.  I have done from Eugene to Newberg 2 times, and the stretch from Eugene to Corvallis (my favorite) almost every year for the last 10 or so. Did way above Eugene (below Dexter dam)  to the mouth twice. From Newberg down it can be a slog as you lose the current in the summer, once though the locks at Oregon City and once I had to cheat and portage.  Have done all in both yaks and a canoe.  I prefer using the yak, my wife likes the canoe as she can sunbath and read in the front seat while I paddle  Would be a great float for a newbie or a family trip. Lots of places to camp on islands in the middle of the river etc. and even a couple little towns along the way to stop and grab a burger.

Pick a river and do some research.  I have floated the entire length (safely floatable in a canoe/SOT) of the Willamette, Clackamas from Feldhimers down, Pudding, most of the Tualatin, and several large chunks of the Columbia.  My next trip is from Oregon City to Astoria/Hammond, which will complete the stretch of the Columbia river from Hood River to the mouth for me (plan is to float the most of the river in sections over the coming  years)... Yes Nanook, all in a Cobra Fish and Dive..

See the info at Washington Water Trails Association. ... http://www.wwta.org/trails/
-Allen

This is a cool site Allen, thanks!

Found a link to a nice interactive map on that site of the lower Columbia to play with.

http://www.columbiawatertrail.org/watertrail

The Willamette river (Oregon) is actually a very nice float.  I have done from Eugene to Newberg 2 times, and the stretch from Eugene to Corvallis (my favorite) almost every year for the last 10 or so. Did way above Eugene (below Dexter dam)  to the mouth twice. From Newberg down it can be a slog as you lose the current in the summer, once though the locks at Oregon City and once I had to cheat and portage.  Have done all in both yaks and a canoe.  I prefer using the yak, my wife likes the canoe as she can sunbath and read in the front seat while I paddle   Would be a great float for a newbie or a family trip. Lots of places to camp on islands in the middle of the river etc. and even a couple little towns along the way to stop and grab a burger.

Pick a river and do some research.  I have floated the entire length (safely floatable in a canoe/SOT) of the Willamette, Clackamas from Feldhimers down, Pudding, most of the Tualatin, and several large chunks of the Columbia.  My next trip is from Oregon City to Astoria/Hammond, which will complete the stretch of the Columbia river from Hood River to the mouth for me (plan is to float the most of the river in sections over the coming  years)... Yes Nanook, all in a Cobra Fish and Dive..

Man, and I thought I get out on the water a lot!  Jeeez!

For me, everything between Anacortes, WA and Yakutat, AK is more than enough to keep busy for a lifetime.

Lower Columbia is a bit more mellow.

OR Coast is awesome. Public beaches are nice.

There is a Puget Sound watertrail that is pretty sweet.

Lake Ozette:  Olympic Nat'l Park has some camping sites that are accessible by water. That lake is huge! Lots of exploring to be done there. Can hike to the ocean beach from the yak/canoe camping spot. Has some islands to explore, and sometimes fair fishing for LM Bass, Cutthroat Trout, and lots of big Squawfish. Mosquitoes are often bad there, though, so treat your clothing with deet if you go. (Deet works all day or longer on clothing, but only works for 5 hours max on your skin).
There are some creeks that drain into it, and the Ozette River flowing out of it, any of which might require exploring for cutthroat with the 4 wt. too.

I was also thinking of doing a late Summer "End of the Earth OP Tour" car-camping and yak fishing at access points on the outer Strait and near Cape Flattery. Exploring places like Pillar Point, Neah Bay, Hobuck Beach, etc.

Heck, I could stay in my home waters and spend many days paddling the Elk River Estuary, the lower Chehalis River(some cool sloughs in the flood plain), the Palix River Estuary(a little to the south of here), and fishing along the Jetty. I still haven't fully explored some of the farthest nooks and crannies in these areas. These would be day trips, however.

Lake Chelan has marine parks all along it's shoreline.  It's ~50 miles long.  When I was up there last time, there were 4 guys in sea touring kayaks coming in when I was heading out to fish.  One of them had a pole with a rapala on it.  He said he just drags it behind him and catches a Chinook every couple miles that way. 

I think I'm going to yak camp that lake this summer.

Lake Chelan has marine parks all along it's shoreline.  It's ~50 miles long.  When I was up there last time, there were 4 guys in sea touring kayaks coming in when I was heading out to fish.  One of them had a pole with a rapala on it.  He said he just drags it behind him and catches a Chinook every couple miles that way. 
I think I'm going to yak camp that lake this summer

That sounds like a really cool trip.  I'd like to do that one!

Lake Chelan has marine parks all along it's shoreline.  It's ~50 miles long.  When I was up there last time, there were 4 guys in sea touring kayaks coming in when I was heading out to fish.  One of them had a pole with a rapala on it.  He said he just drags it behind him and catches a Chinook every couple miles that way. 

I think I'm going to yak camp that lake this summer.

I looked at Lake Chelan on the map earlier this morning and see that there is quit lengthy river flowing into it from the NW.  Is that floatable as well, or too rough for the beginning paddle camper?

While I've done lots of wilderness backpacking in Oregon and Washington, I've yet to apply that knowlege and wander-lust to my kayaks.  However, I have a map of Clayoquot Sound staring at me every day from the wall of my cube.  Hopefully I'll figure out how to tow/carry a surfboard from my kayak.  I'd really love to travel the inside channel up to Flores Island with daily excursions to the pacific for surf and fish.  I'll get it figured out one of these days.  Till then, it makes for great daydreams.

so many options, depending on exactly what you're looking for. Here's the trip report from a lower Columbia trip I did from Beacon Rock to Astoria:

http://alkasazi.blogspot.com/2008/03/lower-columbia-river-trip.html

I could spend days exploring the area between Skamokawa & Astoria. Good place to get real lost for a bit. Willamette from Eugene to Portland is another I'd like to do, along with some big chunks of the John Day.

http://www.willamettewatertrail.org/
http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/johnday/index.php

I'm not really sure about the River.  I've attached a map below.  The cool thing about the town there, is you can only get to it by boat or water plane.  There are no roads.  There is a ferry, so you can take the ferry either there or back, and paddle the other way, or you can just paddle up and back without any ferry involvement.  From what I have seen going out there, and by map, 25 mile creek state park is the northernmost launch.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=stehekin+river,&sll=48.324642,-120.682111&sspn=0.014553,0.027509&ie=UTF8&radius=0.63&filter=0&rq=1&ev=p&hq=stehekin+river,&hnear=&ll=48.321475,-120.684299&spn=0.014554,0.043774&t=h&z=15


I think this would be a really fun trip to take a group on.  I've seen several canoe groups take the trip.

also, here's the write-up from the (near) top-bottom descent of the Columbia a friend of mine did last year:

http://thecolumbiaexperience.wordpress.com/

Here is an old article (1999) about kayaking Chelan.  Note that the Ferry company does allow kayaks now, if you call in advance and pay a $30 fee.