Our Disastrous Adventure

We had big plans for this weekend. Kevin has been dreaming of sailing to Reed Island and camping out there. So we spent the week planning all the details...figuring out what minimal camping gear we would take. (no cooking gear so that limited food choices, no pillows - we would use our life jackets, no clothes other than what we were wearing).

This was the plan...launch from Rooster Rock State Park early Saturday morning and sail to Reed Island. Find a campsite, set up camp and then explore around the island (either by foot or by boat or both). Camp all night. Wake up and sail back to Rooster Rock.

We were expecting rain during the night, but weren't going to let that deter us.

Here's what actually went down....

We launched from Rooster Rock at 10 am. It was sunny and beautiful! There is a long channel that you have to get through before you get to the open river and we planned to motor out.

BUT the motor wouldn't work. It would start and then die. Start and then die. Start and then die (you get the picture).

No problem...some guys going fishing offered to tow us out of the channel.

We got out to the open river and had a little wind. We also noticed the current was really, really strong. So even when we lost ALL the wind, the current was pulling us west toward the island.





We got to the island, tied the boat up and got out to explore a bit. The grass was very tall and there were lots of prickly weeds. We also saw these beauties growing wild.


We also had a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood.

You might notice in the above picture how many logs and sticks were floating in the river. We have had a lot of rain recently and the river level is very, very high (thus the strong current). This also means the "beaches" on the island were completely flooded.

We quickly realized that this was not the part of the island we wanted to be on, and returned to the boat. Only to get stuck in these sticks and logs. We finally pushed our way out and headed down the river.

Not too much further, we spotted a tent and saw the official camping area. Excited to have reached our destination, we tied the boat up and got out.

We found flooded campsites and even saw a couple picnic tables floating in the river!






Considering the state of the campground and the weather forecast, we decided NOT to camp. We got back in the boat and tried to sail back (there was a little wind at this point so we had high hopes of making it back). However, the current was so strong, we continued to be pulled in the opposite direction of our car.

We tried waving down at least a dozen boats and even got close enough to two to ask for help. Believe it or not, they both declined...despite our telling them we were stuck and could not fight the current. And they would have had to have been blind not to notice the children on board!

We did the only thing we could do...we sailed another 10 miles west to Chinook Landing just outside Portland. This is the boat launch we used last week so we were familiar with it. The only problem with this plan is that our car and trailer were at Rooster Rock, 12 miles east of us.



We had a phone, but didn't have anyone's phone number. I did have socks so....I ran 3 miles to our house in my water shoes and socks. I got the van and drove to Rooster Rock. I dropped the van off, and drove the car and trailer to Chinook Landing where I picked up the rest of the gang. We took the trailer and boat back to storage and then drove to Rooster Rock (AGAIN!!) to get the van.

We finally got home and made hot dogs on the grill


and the girls are "camping" upstairs in our little sunroom


All that typing has made me hungry! I'm off to make nachos and dream up an adventure for tomorrow since this one didn't pan out the way we'd hoped!