A Trip Up River

Wally’s new boat is a super watercraft. He has selected about every cool feature and option for his boat. On our last day on the water, we ended the day with Wally giving us a ride up the Alsea River.

After two of our boats had been pulled out of the water and cleaned up at the local coin-operated car wash, we still had a little time left in the afternoon. Wally offered to take those who hadn't ridden in his new boat for a ride. So, Tom, Dave, Dick, Nilo and Maury went down to the dock and boarded Wally's boat.

Wally heading up river with a boat load

Wally drove slowly out to the channel of the Alsea River and headed toward the source. Once in the channel, Wally stomped on the accelerator making the boat jump forward. We had traveled on a short time when we had to slow down as the boat entered a "No Wake" zone.

The "Slow zone seemed to last a long time as we cruised past private docks and RV campgrounds. As soon as we cleared the "No Wake" zone, Wally once again "stepped on it" for a while. It was fun to feel the power of the boat freed to whisk us along the scenic waterway.

Wally gets his boat up to speed

Occasionally Wally would slow down as we passed boats whose occupants were fishing for salmon. We saw a woman fighting what seemed to be a large fish. We slowed down a discrete distance to see what she had on the end of her line. We never did find out what was giving such a fight. Suddenly, the line broke with the woman falling back a bit when the tension released without warning. She was very disappointed as were we when we didn't get to see the big finned critter landed.

Some of the scenery along the Alsea River

Wally proceeded on up river where we saw a bridge ahead that was part of State Route 34. Near the bridge was a very nice looking house. Next to the bridge was a marina called Happy Landing. We continued a short distance beyond the bridge when the number of boats began to crowd the width of the narrowing stream. It was decided to head back to port.

The Highway 34 bridge ahead

Many salmon fishing boats across the river

The trip back gave us another opportunity to see the scenery presented to us in a different light. The afternoon sun was getting low in the sky resulting in longer shadows which made many of the views more dramatic. On the other hand, looking toward the sun, the view was often reduced to dark silhouettes. The river really looked different going toward the sun than when the rip up-river began.

Driving toward the late afternoon sun

There was a problem looming ahead, the tide was going out leaving the water very shallow in the direction we needed to go to get back to the dock. With the boat heading into the sun it was difficult to tell where the channel was located. There was only a small difference in depth between "deep enough" and "too shallow." It didn't help that some of the passengers on board were a bit heavier than the "140 pounds per passenger" allowed on the weight allowance label.

As luck would have it, the boat did run aground. It looked as if we might have to walk home. The boat was only 20 or 30 feet form shore next to the overflow camping area. Unfortunately, why the water was relatively shallow, the mud was very likely very deep. Wally had shut down the boat's big engine and fired up his small trolling motor.

As the passengers moved around to shift their weight around, Wally worked the little engine to try to pull the boat into water deep enough to float the vessel. In a short time, Wally was able to coax the little engine that could into pulling until the boat was floating once again. Again Wally was driving toward the sun, however, he was now heading to the public launch ramp.

The tide had gone out enough that the depth of the channel into the campground dock was questionable. Wally gave a call to camp to have Harry drive to the public ramp so he could pull Wally's boat out of the water. We arrived a short time before Harry reached the ramp. When Harry backed Wally's boat trailer down the ramp, Wally drove his boat right up on the trailer with all of us in the boat.

Harry backs Wally's boat trailer down the publicramp

We all stayed in the boat for the ride back to the campground. It was a fun way to end a very nice ride upriver. We returned to camp in time to have a short visit with Dorisdean before she and Dick had to take off for home.

We get to ride in the boat all the way back to camp

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