NW Inland Freshwater Rendezvous????

Sunday morning would work. The first stop is what we'd need to look at. We can decide that either Saturday night or Sunday morning. It does give Greg and I a lot more time to come up the river. I think we'd like to spend two nights in Lewiston, so either Thurs - Sun or Fri - Sun works for us. The dock rate is reasonable so that's not a big concern either. We'll need to be home Tuesday. We're heading to Slack at the Pendleton Round-up on Wednesday.

Mike (GFC) may have other plans, so I don't know if this messes him up or not?
 
Sundancer said:
Sunday morning would work. The first stop is what we'd need to look at. We can decide that either Saturday night or Sunday morning. It does give Greg and I a lot more time to come up the river. I think we'd like to spend two nights in Lewiston, so either Thurs - Sun or Fri - Sun works for us. The dock rate is reasonable so that's not a big concern either. We'll need to be home Tuesday. We're heading to Slack at the Pendleton Round-up on Wednesday.

Mike (GFC) may have other plans, so I don't know if this messes him up or not?
Click to expand...
Nope, I blocked out my calendar from the 8th to the 18th so I'd be ready for whenever you guys get here and need a lift somewhere.

The 141 miles can be done in 2 days if you really pushed it, but that's not the way to see the Snake. Three days still requires you to run pretty hard. Four days would be about right and 5 days will give you a leisurely trip. Don't forget, you have a 2-3 kt current helping you along as you come down until you get to the dams. The lake the dams create behind them obviously will slow the current down.

To give you an idea of how strong that current can be, here's a photo I took years ago on a trip up the Snake. That's a red nun buoy almost completely submerged by the current. This was below Ice Harbor dam, about a mile downstream, during the spring runoff. Tally Ho!
P1040474-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've seen that type of current many times on our rivers in the spring, but it's obviously not like that this time of the year.
It does sound like it'll be more of a rushed trip, but what do you do? Go and enjoy what time you do have.
 
Again, I don't want my screwy schedule to mess things up for everyone else, especially this late in the game. I was supposed to have been retired by now, or there wouldn't be an issue...
 
Three days should be just fine.
That's appx 45 miles a day including the locks and stopping to float or do whatever.
It's supposed to be much cooler, so who knows about getting in the water.
 
What Greg said!
 
I hate things like this. I have a project with Intel that has been stewing for a year due to supply issues and the like, and it looks like it'll all finally be coming together over the next couple of weeks. I'm doing everything I can to include our new engineer and one of the floor techs, but, since it's my baby, unless I can get the proper OK's, I may not be able to go at all. Hopefully, I can get them pinned down tomorrow. Updates to follow. If nothing else, that would take the pressure off of you folks to try to bend around my schedule.
Quite honestly, I'm a bit apprehensive to take the old girl out on an endeavor of this magnitude without first spending a night or two in familiar waters closer to home, so maybe it'd be better for all concerned for me to look at next Spring, where there's a better chance that I'll be retired, and it won't matter when we go!
'Talk to you soon. Not giving up just yet...
 
Nate, just give me a heads up on whether or not you can come, and when you need a ride and where from and where to.

Also, for the rest of you, give me a heads up on the same thing...rides?

I'm thinking I can give you rides from the club to Wyrman's house so you can pick up your rigs and if you want to leave your boats moored at the club overnight and load them the next morning.
 
Mike,

Thanks for being so flexible and volunteering to do the rides. I don't know who Greg has scheduled later this morning, but he's got a ride for the four of us from his house back to the marina. I'm up and finalizing things so we can be out of Prosser by 8:00 AM. We should be IN the water by 9:00 parked and headed to Greg's to drop the trailer off shortly thereafter. I think he has someone scheduled to pick us up at his house around 10:30 so we can be on the water and ready for the Ice Harbor lock through at noon.

Nate,

I understand the apprehension! If you had been on the boat all summer and had some confidence in the boat, that would be a different story. I wouldn't want to drop the boat in for such a long trip without a little history on the water first either! If you do decide or can make it, call us or even drop the boat in for the last part of the trip. We could meet you halfway down or something too. Totally up to you! We're planning on two nights in Lewiston, Friday and Saturday. We'll have plenty of time to explore going upriver and can go faster going back downriver. Remember, there is always NEXT Summer on Lake Pend Oreille and/or Priest Lake too!
 
Nate,

That box of swag is on it's way and should be there today or tomorrow.

I guess I will have to buy some stamps and send more out to everybody. LOL, I havent bought stamps in years. With this online world and all the bulk shipping I do.
 
Hey, check out what I got!
IMG_3056.jpg

What did you guys get? Oh yeah, you got to go on a cruise down the Snake. If you haven't yet, please PM me with your mailing address and I'll send some your way. We already had a failure with the boat, and it wasn't even in the water. Check my build thread for details. Safe travels, mi amigos!
 
I sent everything to the "Guy that wasnt going to miss it for the world". I guess my wife it right. I AM wrong, again.

I hope you didn't throw away those bags I used for packing materials. Those are those special Oregon bags. Those cost us $0.50 each. :D:D:D
 
We spent last night at Lyons Ferry. I noticed that my starboard engine's water pressure had declined over the two days, I have a spare impeller with me, so I changed it out this morning. This was the third season on it, I thought it was fine, it wasn't.
It was nice and cool this morning, and it only took me 1 1/2 hrs total.
We plan on getting to Lewiston/Clarkston Friday afternoon.
20220907_181500.jpg
 
Well, we made it to Lewiston this morning.
It was a fun trip, a little exciting at times.
I learned that the locks are really amazing, and awe inspiring at 100' elevation change, but they can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.
I had a hard time in the second lock getting close enough to the bollard to catch it because it was just windy enough to show me who the boss was.
The lock master closed the door and I was finally able to tie up.
The area we're in is Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, Washington. There are literally no services here for boats like ours. No place to pump out, no fresh water to refill. No dockage!
The one place that could accommodate us, the dock was almost underwater.
We're staying at a park that has showers and water, so I'm able to fill up our fresh water tank enough.
Anyways, we're glad we did this, but it's the first and last time for it.
We had some friends that came to our house to visit drive up here for the day to see us(mainly my wife). They're staying at our house in their rv, and they use to live here.
Jim(Sundancer) has friends here.
We docked here and had lunch at a pretty good restaurant called Roosters.
I'll post more pics after we get home.
20220909_112938.jpg
 
Very nice. If it makes you feel better. After working around the farm all day then smoking chicken for dinner, I had to heat water on the canning stove and shower with a camp shower. Yup, heated the water and hung the shower head over the tractor bucket. Throw the pump into a warm bucket of water and stand on a piece of stall mat to get clean. PGE shut off the power due to 17mph winds and temps in the high 80s. It's a fire danger, you know. Looks like tomorrow will be cleaning out two fridges and a freezer that got too warm too fast.

Oh and that shower in the barn? I left the door open so the PGE lineman down the street would see the full moon. LOL
 
Greg and Jim, here's a little tip for going through the locks. Actually two tips.

#1--when you pick the bollard you want to tie up to, pick the one that puts your stern closest to the back gate. That way when they fill the lock the water coming in pushes against your bow where there is zero resistance.

If you pick a bollard at the far end of the lock, when they fill it the water is pushing against your stern and that wants to push your bow against the wall. Much more boat movement when the water pushes against your stern.

#2--Instead of tying up with a bow and stern line, if you have a midship cleat use it. And pull the boat as tight to the wall as you can. When you do this there is almost zero movement of the boat against the wall and your fenders will hold the boat stable against the wall.

We did these whenever we went through a lock and it makes getting secured much faster and easier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,120
Messages
1,426,613
Members
61,037
Latest member
wojozobl
Back
Top