CASCADE CANOE CLUB

NEWS LETTER

October 2001 VOLUME VIII NUMBER 10

October Meeting

Tue. Oct. 2, 7:00 PM at the church.
Short slide presentation by Horst Lueck on the wild and scenic section of the Illinois River ran in late May. Since the remoteness of this run requires your ability to deal with any problem on the spot we will use this occasion to have a discussion about gear, emergency repairs, survival tips, etc.. Everybody is encouraged to share her or his favorite Duct Tape story and bring related gear for demonstration.

All: We had a number of people at the Celebration booth, asking for trips,
etc. They may show up at the October meeting and we should have a
flat water trip planned too (I just added a moving water float to our web
site - see clip below). Those of you who initiate flatwater trips, please
coordinate between yourself (I'll be out of town for a while) Horst

As to a flat-water trip, I think its important to have one in Oct. and I will
give some thought as to where. For our first meeting of the season,
could we all bring snack foods as a show of renewed enthusiasm and
commitment to build up the club once again? I also think we need to get
the calendar out and list some flat-water trips for the Fall and Winter.
I will chair that portion of the meeting and come with a list of some
good places to paddle...........Robert

ALSO...........thanks to all who helped with the Eugene celebration
booth in the causeway.....we had many paddlers and potential paddlers
stop by and lots of hand-outs were given out while enjoying our canoe
talk with individuals. It was a good location and one we will try again
to secure next year. Thank you Janet for the canopy connection and Omar
for the marble look-a-like table. It was FUN.......Robert

Gary (editor) is changing his ISP and email address, and he/we had
some problems with lost messages -- that's why I am choosing this format
and attaching some previous clips (w/o much editing, sorry).

The Hanford Reach of the Columbia River

On Sept 19 Phil, his friend Joe, and Horst went on this 34 mi long float
in south central Washington. It is a peculiar setting with the mothballed
reactors of the Hanford site (managed by DOE) all along the right side of
the river, and the spectacular White Bluffs and several Wildlife Refuges
(managed by Fish & Wildlife) river left.
There are no real rapids on this stretch, just a few riffles, but it's
big water, really BIG (100 000 cfs) - and fast moving half of the time.
Some 20 miles into the float, looking back towards the Saddle Mountains
above the put-in, Phil noted "This is really Big Country!" -- (awesome
sunsets almost guaranteed).
We had some close encounters with mule deer, beavers, pelicans, and
coyotes, the first one actually at Coyote Rapids curiously watching us
floating by, less than 20 yards away. The second one I saw was stalking a
flock of Canada geese. When he realized he got 'caught' he walked away
with his ears down and his tail between his legs ... just like a punished
dog.

The only downside on this trip was the larger number of motor boaters
fishing for fall chinook. For future trips I recommend to contact Fish &
Wildlife to schedule a less busy time.