Adventures in Paddling the Pacific Northwest

An amateur kayak designer and builder from Seattle produces a design which becomes the almost legendary Mariner Coaster and when production of the commercial version ceases a skin-on-frame builder and paddler in Oregon continues the line with construction seminars all over the world.

Pam in her Illusion and me in my Mariner II paddled a few miles on Moses Lake to put the cap on a weekend that included cross-country skiing with my family at the Nordic Center at White Pass just west of Yakima in Washington State.

Global warming has lengthened the paddling season on Moses Lake. Normally we’d be ice skating this time of year. Instead, I get one or two last paddles when the sun is out and the air temp rises.

We can tell winter is here by looking out the window at Moses Lake. Every year this arm of the lake freezes solid from about the middle of November until the middle of March.

The Lewis River, along with all the rivers that flow into the Columbia west of Portland, Oregon, was the freeway used by Native Americans to advance their civilization before the white man. By about 1880 that civilization had virtually disappeared. Today you can see little evidence that 50,000 people lived within 15 or 20 miles of the Lewis River.

Maybe it’s easy living on the lake after all.

Held in Port Townsend, WA every year since about 1984, the West Coast Sea Kayak Seminar has remained the premier single event learning experience in the Pacific Northwest.

Kindergarten kids from Royal City, WA Red Rock Elementary get an introduction to kayaking by Moses Lake paddler Craig Jungers.

Kayaking and camping the Eagle Pass area at Steamboat Rock on Banks Lake near the city of Grand Coulee in north central Washington State

Four days in Washington State’s San Juan Islands using a mothership to facilitate paddling a kayak around the many waterways and anchorages.