President's Corner
Snow Melt Presents Boating Opportunities this Spring
By Scott Harvey
Greetings fellow club members,
Spring Boating:
Spring has arrived in the Northwest! With the arrival of spring, come the longer daylight hours and the ever warming outside ambient temperatures. This will give us the snow melt that will fill our rivers for another boating season. As I’m writing this column, I’ve noticed on the USGS Streamflow website for Oregon that most of Eastern Oregon’s river drainages have already started with some gradual river rises due to snow melt. With an above average snow pack for the Grande Ronde River, North Fork John Day River and main stem John Day River, I wouldn’t be surprised to see these drainages run full through June. The Owyhee and Bruneau Rivers have below normal snow pack, but should still offer some boating opportunities this spring.
The Cascade Mountain Rivers in both Oregon and Washington will both offer good whitewater boating experiences this April and May once we get a combination of the following, warmer daytime temps, higher freezing levels and/or warm spring rains. Even though our two favorite rivers, the Upper Clackamas and Upper Molalla Rivers are still temporarily closed due to last fall’s destructive wildfires, there are numerous other rivers nested in our backyard for the whitewater enthusiast. These following rivers should have a good spring run this season: The Toutle, Upper Cispus, Wind, White Salmon, Klickitat, Crooked, Hood, Sandy, North Santiam, Little North Fork Santiam, Breitenbush, Upper North Santiam (Boulder Section), McKenzie, No Fk Middle Fk Willamette, North Umpqua, Rogue, Illinois, Klamath and the Cal Salmon to name a few.
Safety Auction:
This year’s safety auction was a success. I’d like to thank those individuals who purchased items in this year’s auction and a big thanks to those vendors who donated towards our safety auction. These are the following vendors who help support our club.
River Shuttle Vendors: Hells Canyon Shuttles, All Rivers Shuttles, Galice Lodge Rogue River Shuttles, Blackadar Middle Fork Shuttles, Central Idaho River Shuttles, Henry’s Deschutes River Shuttles and Linda’s Deschutes River Shuttles.
General Vendors: Andy and Bax, Northwest Rafting Company, RECRETEC Manufacturing, Sotar Inflatable Boats, Sawyer Oars, Goodwater Boat Works, Clackamas River Outfitters, eNRG Kayaking, Cascade River Gear, AIRE Inflatable Boats, AAA of Oregon and Zipline X – Bungee.Com.
Please keep those vendors who supported our club’s safety auction in consideration when it comes to hiring a shuttle company for your next overnight river trip or purchasing items and/or service for your next outing.
OWA First Aid Kit:
The OWA has an extensive Wilderness First Aid Kit and an AED that goes on all club trips and is available for club members to take on private trips as well. I encourage you all to take both with you on your next overnight private trip. You can check them out by sending an email to .