Floating the Willamette River Between Corvallis and Albany on an inflatable kayak....

This last weekend we decided to break out the inflatable kayaks and float the Willamette River between the boat ramp below the Old Spaghetti Factory in Corvallis down to Hayak Park just this side of Albany.

During the summer, particularly late summer, the Willamette can become fairly busy with drifters and paddlers on kayaks, canoes, innertubes and all manners of watercraft. By late summer the water is relatively comfortable temperature and on a sunny summer day it can be wonderful to be out on the river.

This Sunday was particularly nice, as the smoke from fires froum around the northwest had blown off and the sky was gorgeous. It's about a 9 mile drift/paddle fromthe boat ramp in Corvallis to Hayak Park, and took us about 3.5 hours of time to pretty much float it (with occasional paddling).  We left the boat ramp about 10 minutes behind a group of drifters on tubes and maybe beat them by all of 2-4 minutes by the time we'd made it to the park paddling part time. I'd call this stretch of water quite calm. There's an occasional snag along the river's edge you'd want to avoid, but otherwise very little going on as far as fast water or obstacles.  The county sheriff's department has a boat and they do check on people throughout the day. Remember your safety accessories... I belive a lifejacket or PFD and a whistle within reach are mandatory. The inflatable kayaks start at 65-85 bucks, other types of rafts or tubes can be less, so it's not an overly expensive event to do, espectially if you plan on doing a bunch of it.

I was surprised by how much there was to look at. I wish I had a better camera ready to go, and be on a boat so I wouldn't be afraid to get it wet.  I was using my cell phone in a $5.99 dry box and fumbling around pointing in general directions because I couldn't see in the bright sun.  On the float we saw... several osprey (including nesting osprey with chicks), a couple of juvenile bald eagles (they are huge birds, but they are mottled colored until their heads turn white a couple years on), fish jumping, lots of varieties of ducks (including a read headed mohawked one) a great blue heron, a white heron or crane, vultures, swifts and more.

It takes two vehicles to do this, leaving one at each boat ramp, but I can see doing this a lot more in future summers... this was my first time out on the Willamette in years.  I've been missing out.