PRESENTATION: After a short break, we'll have a slide presentation introducing the history of Skamokawa and the lower Columbia River by guide Andrew Emlen. Andrew has taught a course on the Columbia River as adjunct faculty for Lewis & Clark College.
Note: This program is designed for experienced paddlers to learn advanced skills; no beginners. Paddling 10–20 tide-assisted miles per day.Lodging: The Inn at Crippen Creek or The Inn at Lucky MudMeals Included: Dinner
Note: The “field trip” designation denotes a group outing that includes on-site presentations by experts.Lunch: We will eat our pack lunches at forested Gray's Point, where Lewis & Clark camped for two stormy days in 1805.Afternoon: FIELD TRIP: After the tide changes during lunch, we will return along the shore of Gray's Bay, passing the ghost town of Frankfurt on our way back to our Deep River launch site.Dinner: We will eat together at the Inn at Crippen Creek. Our hosts the Speranzas, are former caterers who teach cooking classes specializing in Italian food.Evening: EVENING PROGRAM: Irene Martin is a local author and historian. Winner of the Governor's Award for her historical work, she has also worked as a gillnetter and Episcopal priest and has entertained and informed Road Scholar groups for many years on every conceivable topic related to the Lower Columbia River.Lodging: The Inn at Crippen Creek or The Inn at Lucky MudMeals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Before we leave for the morning, prepare your own pack lunch from a variety of fresh ingredients provided by the B&B.Morning: SKILLS CLINIC: Led by respected kayak coach Mark Whitaker, we'll work on stroke refinement, bracing, rescues, rolling, towing, and navigation.Lunch: We will eat our pack lunches on the deck of Skamokawa Center, overlooking the river.Afternoon: SKILLS CLINIC: We will continue our clinic, learning and practicing to improve kayaking skills.
EXCURSION: After the skills clinic concludes, we'll walk across the road to the River Life Interpretive Center. This Queen Anne-style 1894 schoolhouse was purchased and beautifully restored by the Friends of Skamokawa Foundation in 1985, and now serves as a historical museum.Dinner: We will have dinner together at the Inn at Lucky Mud.Evening: EVENING ENTERTAINMENT: The popular local folk band Willapa Hills will present a program of songs by and about the people of the lower Columbia River. Willapa Hills are known for creative arrangements using various combinations of voice, guitar, autoharp, cello, banjo, mandolin, mandocello, fiddle, piano and percussion.Lodging: The Inn at Crippen Creek or The Inn at Lucky MudMeals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Before we leave for the morning, prepare your own pack lunch from a variety of fresh ingredients provided by the B&B. Morning: FIELD TRIP: Beginning at County Line Park, we will paddle along the basalt cliffs of the Lower Gorge, featuring 90-foot waterfalls, many wildflowers, and the ruins of old salmon canneries. These cliffs are part of the world's second largest basalt flows that filled the Columbia 16 million years ago.Lunch: We will eat our pack lunch on an uninhabited island in the Columbia before continuing down river.Afternoon: FIELD TRIP: We continue paddling to Skamokawa through the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge. The Sitka spruce swamp sloughs through which we'll paddle are lined with trees up to 350 years old. We'll have opportunities to watch river otters, bald eagles, and nesting osprey.Dinner: We will have dinner together at the Inn at Lucky Mud.Evening: Evening presentation: Guide Mark Whitaker will give a history of kayaking, with an emphasis on the Aleut and Greenland cultures where the kayak developed. Mark has built traditional skin-on-frame kayaks and associated equipment and teaches traditional Greenland paddling and rolling techniques.Lodging: The Inn at Crippen Creek or The Inn at Lucky MudMeals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Before we leave for the morning, prepare your own pack lunch from a variety of fresh ingredients provided by the B&B.Morning: FIELD TRIP: Our route this morning will begin along the rugged north shore to Pillar Rock, a landmark made famous in the Lewis & Clark journals as the point where they first reported seeing the ocean. We will then cross the main channel of the river where Lewis & Clark did, to the Oregon side.Lunch: We will eat our pack lunch on one of the islands of the Lewis & Clark National Wildlife Refuge.Afternoon: FIELD TRIP: We will continue through the islands until we cross to Astoria, where we will be greeted by a chorus of barking Calfornia sea lions at the East Mooring Basin.Dinner: Our final dinner usually features wild-caught salmon at the Inn at Lucky Mud.Evening: EVENING ENTERTAINMENT: Musicians Emlen & Reynolds will present "Corelli to Cruzatte: Music of the Lewis & Clark Era." The first half of this performance will be classical music once performed by Thomas Jefferson; the second half will be traditional fiddle tunes and folk songs that are likely to have been played on the Lewis & Clark trail. Emlen & Reynolds have performed for numerous state and national Lewis & Clark bicentennial events, historical societies, and Road Scholar programs and have been videotaped for the National Park Service archives.Lodging: The Inn at Crippen Creek or The Inn at Lucky MudMeals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We trust you have enjoyed this exciting new program and will join us in the future for other rewarding Road Scholar learning adventures. Best wishes for all your journeys!Meals Included: Breakfast