Portland to Astoria

[Drewrt]

Thinking of sailing to Astoria and back on my E27 the week of July 1st.
Any good suggestions on places to anchor along the way?
Places to swim and views?
This will be the first time and the furthest I've gone.
Any suggestions or info is greatly appreciated

 

[Loren Beach]

If you are planning on doing this as a round-trip, you may not have too much time to linger in the lower river. Trip down will be fast, since the current is now at 2+ kts. Tides will start to help or hinder you once you get down past St Helens.
You can tie up free at the docks at the island across from the St Helens waterfront. You could anchor in the lagoon at Martin Island, but I would not advise swimming.
New docks to tie up to at Kalama, but there is a fee. Also, there is a nice McMenamins restaurant there.
Free protected float behind Walker Island which is owned by a YC but specifically allows others to use it when they are not.
Cathlamet has a totally protected marina, and showers/fuel. Without local knowledge, best to go around Puget Island and approach from downriver.

All new public dock (!) up inside the Westport Slough.
Great anchorage in the huge harbor east side of Tongue Point, by inside and Mott Islands. Sand/mud bottom, 18 feet uniform depth.
West Basin at Astoria is nice, has fuel, and showers are probably still free. Call them when approaching, for slip assignment.

Best plan for about three days returning home, or two fairly long days of listening to the engine. Sometimes you will get a fresh breeze to sail up the river, in the afternoons. Main river is fast and cold now, and swimming might be ill advised. Hypothermia is very real.

Lots of scenery to enjoy, and we will probably be doing a similar trip later this summer.

Where do you moor? We sail out of RCYC.

 

[Drewrt]

Thanks
I've given myself 6 days for the trip, but I wouldn't mind doing the trip later this summer if it would be more enjoyable , I could do a shorter trip now ,maybe to Martin island and back
I'm taking my 9 year old grand daughter and it's all about the trip not the destination
What are the best months to do the Astoria trip?

 

[Loren Beach]

Best are summer and fall, IMHO.
Depends a lot on whether you have heat onboard. If you stop at marinas with 30 amp shore power, you can take along a portable heater for chilly nights.
In hot weather it's a big help to have some fans installed. We have had the lo-amp draw "Hella" fans (3 of them) for many years in our boat.
Nice to have a big umbrella to shade the cockpit and maybe a tarp to go over the boom on a 90 degree afternoon at anchor or at the docks.
The anchorage east of Tongue is especially nice with a afternoon breeze, and of course it's always cooler near Astoria.

 

[toddster]

Even in late summer, it seems like I use all the layers on that trip. Start out bundled up in the morning and have quite a pile of stripped off clothes at the base of the ladder by afternoon.
As Lauren notes, it's probably a waste of time (and fuel) to try to fight the tide and the current back up the river - usually better to stop somewhere and do something else until the tide turns.
Lots of places to explore down in the estuary by kayak or SUP if you take one.
If one is motoring anyway, it can be fun to explore Multnomah channel from St. Helens to Portland, or vice verse. Scappoose Bay is probably wide open right now, but when the water is low, one must stick tightly to the poorly-marked channel.
At least up here, the water is still high, but going down noticeably each day.

 

[Cory B]

Downriver by Astoria can get pretty gnarly in the summer afternoons. If you can, you might want to arrive there early before the waves and wind really kick in the first time you go.

We do a trip to Astoria with our kids most summers. We try to break the trip down the river into at least 2 days, and at least 3 days up.

And yes, 6 days is pretty short when you have to fight the current coming back up the river.

 

[toddster]

FWIW, I can get down to Astoria in two long summer days ( from Hood River) and back in four or five, depending. (Sometimes we ruin at night if there is crew.) Bu tit is usually more fun to poke along and take your time.
Sometimes the RR bridge at Portland makes you wait for hours, for no obvious reason. Getting through Bonneville is a lot faster and more transparent.
Another important point: Washington side fuel docks open 24/7 card lock selfpump gas. Oregon side marinas close sharply at 5, sometimes not open on Sunday..

 

[C.J.B]

If you are planning on doing this as a round-trip, you may not have too much time to linger in the lower river. Trip down will be fast, since the current is now at 2+ kts. Tides will start to help or hinder you once you get down past St Helens.
You can tie up free at the docks at the island across from the St Helens waterfront. You could anchor in the lagoon at Martin Island, but I would not advise swimming.
New docks to tie up to at Kalama, but there is a fee. Also, there is a nice McMenamins restaurant there.
Free protected float behind Walker Island which is owned by a YC but specifically allows others to use it when they are not.
Cathlamet has a totally protected marina, and showers/fuel. Without local knowledge, best to go around Puget Island and approach from downriver.

All new public dock (!) up inside the Westport Slough.
Great anchorage in the huge harbor east side of Tongue Point, by inside and Mott Islands. Sand/mud bottom, 18 feet uniform depth.
West Basin at Astoria is nice, has fuel, and showers are probably still free. Call them when approaching, for slip assignment.

Best plan for about three days returning home, or two fairly long days of listening to the engine. Sometimes you will get a fresh breeze to sail up the river, in the afternoons. Main river is fast and cold now, and swimming might be ill advised. Hypothermia is very real.

Lots of scenery to enjoy, and we will probably be doing a similar trip later this summer.

Where do you moor? We sail out of RCYC.

Loren, that's really helpful information. I was looking at Cathlamet as a possible destination in itself because it looks like you can walk to a lot cafes and other places not far from the marina, and it would appear to be one of the few marinas where this is the case. Although Rainer is similar. Should Rainer be included on that list of places to dock?

 

[Loren Beach]

We have stopped overnight at Ranier, and the Mexican restaurant a short walk from from the marina is first rate. Note that the marina is subject to ship wakes and you should never park on the outside the long outer breakwater dock. Inside is fine, tho. Since it's a facility partly funded by your boating registration $, thru the Oregon Marine Board, there may not fee any fee to tie up.

One other piece of "local knowledge" is knowing the river lever. Portland is about 90 miles inland from Astoria and the normally-useful little tide tables-with-corrections are super helpful for planning your day's run, on the lower river. However, they are not at all accurate for timing the high and low further inland. Be sure to have a 99 cent tide booklet from the outdoor store, but it's also good to know the real-world height and arrival of the high and low as you move upstream.

Columbia River at Vancouver

water.weather.gov

This gauge is at Vancouver. Note that as the present run-off tapers down, the tide surge upriver here is starting to show up. And, to reiterate again, this local graph is "real time" and not based on any algorithm.
Have fun!

 

[Cory B]

...

One other piece of "local knowledge" is knowing the river lever. Portland is about 90 miles inland from Astoria and the normally-useful little tide tables-with-corrections are super helpful for planning your day's run, on the lower river. However, they are not at all accurate for timing the high and low further inland. Be sure to have a 99 cent tide booklet from the outdoor store, but it's also good to know the real-world height and arrival of the high and low as you move upstream.

For real-time river levels, may I suggest the free app Rivercast (www.RivercastApp.com)? It includes the Vancouver gage, as well as others on the river (as well 10K+ others around the country).

Full disclosure: I wrote it. I originally wanted a way to figure when I could safely get over the sandbar that popped into existence about 10-12 yrs ago outside of Hayden Bay.