But we finally opted for a different kind of kayak trip on a different river. The Columbia River starts south of Golden, so we headed that direction to get a look at it. That took us to the town of Parsons--home of the largest paddle in the world. We'd like to see the size of the canoe that goes with this thing.
This area is called the Columbia Wetlands, and we found a map that helped us visualize what it looked like. The darker blue is the route of the Columbia River as it braids its way north toward Golden. The lighter blue are the wetlands, made up of lakes and ponds and streams along the river. The different parts of the wetlands may or may not be connected to the river. There are mountains on both sides that form the border of this wetland valley.
Just across from the world's largest paddle is the put-in spot for a little company called The Columbia Wetlands Outpost. A boardwalk helped get us across the entrance to the marshy wetlands and to the water.
A seriously sketchy suspension bridge also takes customers across the marsh to visit . . .
an even sketchier bathroom--with only two walls!
Denisa has taken pictures of outhouses built in particularly beautiful locations, and this one does have a nice mountain view. But that's the view from sitting on the toilet since there is no door!
We returned to our launch point via the swinging bridge that is swinging in frightening ways.
Then we're off on our wetland adventure through the reeds and narrow waterways close to our launch site.
We've been given the map below for our proposed route. This is a much smaller area than the previous map, and our assignment is to follow the white dashed line in a counter-clockwise pattern. That will keep us on the Columbia River channel, so we can float with the current part of the way. But we'll have to paddle against the current in other parts of the loop.
This is the same Columbia River that we saw roaring down the Columbia River Gorge and then emptying into the Pacific Ocean in Oregon. But when we see it now, close to its Canadian beginnings, it's a narrower and calmer river. As we start our paddle, we have the Rocky Mountains on our right, and the Purcell Range of the Columbia Mountains on our left.
We think the Rockies are prettier in this section, and they are lit up nicely in the afternoon sun.
The first part of the route lets us leisurely float towards the Purcell Mountains.
That's when Mark decided that we should go off the map and explore more of the wetlands. We found a grass-edged inlet with a current and paddled hard against it.
That suddenly opened up into a large expanse of water known as Infinity Lake according to our map. We have made it into one of the non-river sections of the wetlands!
It was a good decision, as we immediately found three trumpeter swans ahead of us.
Not used to paddlers that get off course like us, these huge birds didn't let us get very close before they took to the air.
We also spotted another timid animal that didn't let us get a good picture. This elk was barely visible in the tall wetlands grass when Mark spotted him.
We also spotted wildlife in the air. You might have to squint to see a tiny crescent in the blue sky high above the mountains in the picture below.
This wildlife is of the human persuasion. We actually saw two different paragliders that had just jumped off the bald top of one of the Rocky Mountains.
We watched as they caught thermals to rise and then floated down to land at the base of the mountain. Now that's wild-life!
We paddled the length of Infinity Lake, then up and down channels of water in the wetlands for a couple hours. Then we decided that we really should get back on course and follow the map. This would take some paddling against the current of the river now.
It was then that we heard the squawking of a young bird in peril. This wasn't a small bird--just an inexperienced one.
We followed the squawking to find this young bald eagle, calling for one of his parents to come rescue or feed him.
We watched as this parent surveyed the situation from the air, and then landed in a tree nearby.
Mark did some masterful rowing to steady our kayak so Denisa could take pictures . . .
from more than one angle. The youngster finally made an awkward flight into another tree and the squawking was silenced. It's always fun to get to witness some wildlife parenting in person.
By this time we had been on the water for hours, and the river had smoothed to glass, reflecting the mountains beside us.
As the clouds darkened, we realized that we needed to row a little faster towards our put-in spot. We could see the rain starting to fall on the mountains ahead of us.
We made it safely to our dock and carried out inflatable kayak back to the car quickly. Our quickness was inspired some by the approaching showers, but mostly from the hungry mosquitoes in the parking area. We hadn't been bothered by bugs at all on the water, but they were voracious on land. We normally dry and carefully fold up the boat, but we were throwing all the wet pieces in the car today. Whew! We just closed the car doors when the first rain drops began falling. We successfully made it through a great day on the water, exploring the wetlands of the Columbia River Valley without getting wet!
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