Camping on the Columbia

Camping on the Columbia River is the vacation I look forward to all year. It is the most relaxing week of my year. We boat in and camp right on the beach where the boys play all day and we can do whatever we want: swim, read, eat, play games... It's perfect!

Now I admit that it is a little unpredictable out there with the constantly changing water levels (thanks to the dam). And with last year's mishaps: the boat getting beached, running out of gas and the motor not running, but I still love it!

Unfortunately this year was no exception. We had hoped to leave first thing in the morning, but due to circumstances beyond our control (somehow the dog got fleas)we got a late start.

When we got to the boat landing the water was low but we got the boat in the water with little trouble. Will, Zack, Betsy and I waited with the last of the gear while Chris and Andy went to find our spot for the week.

Still waiting...

Well the water was a bit lower than we had thought and once out of the shipping channel they had to do a lot of pushing. Two hours later they returned to the dock soaking wet and unsure of the place they had chosen. Thankfully the water was going up again so we were able to park a little closer to shore for unpacking the last of the stuff. We were also thankful for the light of a nice full moon to light our way while bringing things in from the boat to shore. After a quick supper we headed straight to bed so we could get up at 2am and see the lunar eclipse. It was beautiful and we had a perfect view from the door of the tent!

The boat from camp

Camp from the boat

The next day was gorgeous and we had a great time doing all the things we love to do on the river...

Andy tubing

Sand Island from where we anchored the boat

Climbing the cliffs on Sand Island

William getting ready to go tubing

We were also looking forward to Grandpa and Grandma coming out for the day in the morning.

At some point in the night I woke up and could hear waves lapping up on shore VERY close to the tent. Sure enough, the water had come in A LOT and was now much closer to our camp. The next time I woke up the waves were much louder (due to the fact that the water was a bit closer) and the wind had picked up. When I mentioned this to Chris he said he was a bit worried about the two backpacking tents he had set up for our upcoming trip over the weekend. I got up to look out the door just as one of the tents blew by us into the river further downshore. I also noticed in the full moonlight that THE BOAT WAS GONE!!!

Thankfully we had both anchored the boat and tied it to shore, so while it had moved downriver, it was still tied to the log. So Chris and Zack braved the wind and the waves to bring the boat back to its original location and added a second anchor. The rest of us "battened down the hatches" on the rest of the camp so it would not blow away while we slept.

Needless to say, Chris and I didn't get much sleep. The wind howled the rest of the night, the water was creeping up ever closer to the camp and an hour later the boat had floated back downriver.

the water is getting closer

When we finally got out of the tent, it was miserable. The river looked like the Pacific Ocean, the wind was constantly blowing, sand blew into everything (including the tent). Eventually the boat broke its anchor line, the boys dug a moat to protect us from the water and we ate a rather sandy breakfast inside the very stuffy tent (it got up to 90 that day).

Digging our moat

Enjoying a rather gritty breakfast

After a few hours we decided to call it quits. The forecast called for more wind and we had had enough. Grandpa and Grandma came and helped us pack up our stuff and we headed home early.


This is a video of us packing up in the wind after it had died down a bit.

It wasn't what we had planned, but we had one glorious day and a real exciting adventure!

And just to make the trip a little more exciting the boys found Mario's cage door open when we got home and Mario was gone! (For those of you who don't know, Mario is our rather large pet rat) Thankfully (yet again) he had not gone far and William found him hiding under Zack's dresser. Now Mario has two large rocks on top of his cage door!