There’s a time in the late fall when it hasn’t rained for a while and the Columbia River gets low. Really low. Most boaters have called it a season, but there are still some fine days left if you watch for the right weather window.
On one such day, Bill and I decided to head out to the Columbia Gorge, just east of Portland. The water was so low at Rooster Rock’s launch ramp that the asphalt didn’t quite make it to the water, so we had to roll our trailers into the muck.
A half-mile channel connects the park to the main river. It was little hard to row because the water was so thin, but we persisted. I stood up and pretended I was a gondolier. Even though our boats float in about a foot of water, we still ran aground plenty of times.
Just as we made it to the Columbia, we noticed that a sand bar had formed at the channel’s mouth. Having gotten this far, we were determined to get to the river, sand bar be dammed.
