The last day in July found six of us launching on the Willamette at Marshall Island Access, near Junction City - in 3 tandem canoes. A short day took us to Blue Ruin Island, a decent enough camp, although it had little shade. Part of my master plan for the trip was to camp at sites not accessible by road. Another element was to camp where we'd pass toilet facilities relatively early in the morning...
Next day was long, 19 miles, and we camped at Sam Daws Landing. Here there was a little more shade and swimmable water. All night we were serenaded by combines and grain trucks. Fortunately, all of us had ear plugs. We passed Irish Bend to see a large group of day paddlers and many folks who had driven in for the weekend. As nice as it is in many ways, this is a camp I avoided.
We arrived in Corvallis pretty early on Sunday. Paddling just went along very smoothly. I have to say that the Willamette is still a favorite river in my heart, no doubt because I grew up on its banks in Corvallis and even rowed on the freshman crew when I was at OSU.
Wildlife sightings mainly consisted of the many osprey hanging out by the river. Of course there were some bald eagles too, and we saw quite a confrontation between some ospreys and eagles. Most remarkable of our sighting was a live freshwater mussel that moved maybe 1/4 inch every 5 minutes or so!
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