G
Gettin' Jiggy Wid It
You can get about 10 yards from the water and still be on flat ground. There is a gravel section down to the water but I wouldn't back anything down it. I have seen some good size holes left by people trying to get out of there.
After yesterday I was looking at the easiest way to the where the Yamhill meets the Willamette. Dayton ramp is ok but a long stretch of water that isn't moving. Chehelem is easy and close for me but around a 2 mile up river trip. Depending on the current it could be tough. I rode over to the San Salvador park this morning and it has a decent launch and is just up river from where the Yamhill joins the Willamette. I'm going to try that one next trip and see if that is any better.
Follow up on the San Salvador launch. Easy to get in with a nice ramp for kayaks/small boats. The river is moving pretty fast from there down to the Yamhill. I had to break out my GPS to make sure I was at the Yamhill since I got there faster than expected. I didn't have any luck at all last weekend but had the river to myself for the first couple hours.
I wouldn't recommend trying to go back up river unless you really like to paddle fast.
Any part of the river up past the yamhill is going to be tough to paddle back (to San Slavidor launch) because of the current and more exposed gravel bars and shallow water as summer continues. Some of the gravel bars will become big enough to park a plane.
From what I read, the flashboards are seasonal two foot high and removable. They only influence the water depths a few miles upstream. It sounds like a good idea. Maybe they could do something similar at Hagg Lake so that we have more water in times of drought.
That is interesting. I'm not sure, I guess Newberg could be influenced by it. The high water could also be explained by a combination of recent warm weather in higher elevations and recent snow melt which can cause flooding.
I have never been to the Tualatin but hope to check it out one of these days.