Cascade Head, Oregon, July 8th 2007

Two of my kayaking buddies, Dave Harry and Christine Hauser, were married in Oregon on July 7th (7/7/07). Since the wedding was just after a holiday and I was going to paddle the coastline of northern Oregon next month, I took a few more days off to come up early and scout the shore. Kate DesLauriers and I left the Bay Area late on July 3rd and by the afternoon of the 4th we were hiking out to several different points near the mouth of the Columbia River. We drove back down the coast over the next day and a half and hiked out to almost every point and river entrance in the northern half of Oregon. The only place we missed was Cascade Head, for various reasons. So it was interesting to find out after the wedding that Dave and Chris had planned a paddle around this point for their kayaking friends to join them celebrating on the water after the wedding.

We launched from a boat ramp a mile or so up the river from the ocean. It was a very windy day but for the start of this paddle we were in the wind shadow from the point itself. The river emptied out into the ocean just behind the steep cliffs of the point making a deep channel with no waves for escaping to sea. Before we realized it, we were in the ocean, there were caves and arches in the cliff for us to paddle into! Just to our left the deep river channel ended and there were waves breaking noisily over a shallow sandy bottom. I paddled into this and tried to surf it back. A big set came in and broke over me. I managed to broach, brace and side-surf it in and stay more-or-less upright. Christine saw this and asked me if I did that on purpose.

The closeness of the surf and the threat of the wind convinced several kayakers to turn back and go for a calm paddle up the river. The rest of us continued and were rewarded by finding one of the largest sea caves I have ever been in! It was over 30 feet tall, 30 feet wide and over 150 yards deep! The cave was full of a cold mist that lit up in the flash from our cameras and ruined most of the pictures that I took inside. I have been inside a cave in the Na Pali coast of Kauai Island (Hawaii) that claims to be the second largest sea cave in the world. Then I was in a larger sea cave on Santa Cruz Island off southern California once in an 88 foot dive boat. That must be the largest one! This cave in Cascade Head was not as big as either of those, but it must be up there in the list of big ones.

We continued around Cascade Head looking for and going into several more caves. As we rounded the outermost point we were hit by the full force of the wind and it was difficult to make farther progress. Several more kayakers turned back to the river and just a few of us battled our way to the next point so we could go through a rock with a double arch. Then we let the wind blow us back around the point to the river.

At the mouth of the river we tried to catch a few rides in the surf before we paddled back up the calm river. We all met in nearby Depo Bay for a seafood dinner before starting our drives home in different directions.