Spindrift off the waves blows in my eyes. The novices in our group can’t make progress into the rising wind, and I can only tow one person at a time, so we pull ashore onto a sandy beach. A naked man comes out of the bushes and helps the exhausted guests out of their boats. Shocked, they look away—but accept the help. Just another day on the Lower Columbia River Water Trail.

The group is part of a five-day trip down the mighty Columbia from Portland to near the mouth. The man is naked because we’d unwittingly landed at one of the nude beaches that dot the Columbia. The contrast of paddlers wearing Gore-Tex and neoprene and a beachgoer wearing nothing at all is the funniest thing I’ve seen in my years of kayaking. But the Columbia River is varied in both people and paddling.

In a trip down the Columbia, you can choose your kayaking environment: steep-sided gorges laced by waterfalls and defined by wind; big cities with a double-nonfat-soy-latte a few yards from the dock, intricate mazes of brackish marshes, and a river mouth that is more like the exposed open sea than a river.

But some things will also be chosen for you. Our group launched on a typical sunny, hot, summer day, only to have 25 knot winds kick up out of nowhere. For anyone who knows the Columbia, this is not a surprise—strong and variable winds are the norm in some places, but possible anywhere. That day, the seas on the Columbia just west of Portland were bigger than those on the Pacific beaches.

The Gorge
About 12,000 years ago, ice-age floods roared down the Columbia, carving steep cliffs full of waterfalls. The gorge extends from the damp rainforest just 30 miles east of Portland to about 150 miles into the high desert. It’s big, stunning and defined by wind, so much so that expert paddlers use it as a training ground. But on calm to moderate days, and if you have the skills, it’s one of the most fun places I’ve ever paddled. Access points dot the Washington and Oregon sides of the river, and windsurfers’ websites help predict the conditions. It’s a fantastic place to develop and practice skills, and the scenery is great.

The Urban Floodplain
West of the gorge, the Columbia widens and passes through a broad floodplain around Portland and Vancouver, WA. Here you can paddle in the morning and browse the world’s largest independent bookstore in the afternoon. You can often see Peregrine Falcons nesting under the city’s bridges. You can also take your pick of sheltered side channels and tributaries: the Willamette, Multnomah Channel, the Lewis and Lake Rivers, Scappoose Bay. And yes, there are some nude beaches on the Columbia both north and east of Portland.

The Refuges
After the Columbia passes Portland, Vancouver and Longview, WA, it enters some mazelike islands. Most of them are part of two sprawling wildlife refuges preserved as wetlands: the Lewis and Clark and the Julia Butler Hansen Refuges that straddle the river and many islands midstream. These low-lying islands are full of wildlife (especially wintering bald eagles and waterfowl) and so many channels that it’s easy to get turned around. Bring a chart and compass, and expect the look of the land to change as the tide rises and falls. And bring your bird guide.

The Big, Wide, Gaping Maw
Downstream of the refuges, west of the town of Skamokawa, things get big. The river widens to more than five miles across, with currents, winds and swells that can roll in from the open Pacific. Waikiki Beach, on the Washington side of the mouth, is a surf beach with rebounding waves; the rest of the river is full of strong currents, swell, lots of wind and complex interactions where they meet. The closer to the mouth you get, the more skills and knowledge you’ll need—conditions often keep advanced paddlers ashore. Much of the river’s behavior is unusual, so local knowledge is best: talk to folks who know the place well.

Fur and Rotten Elk Meat
Another draw of the Columbia is its history. The most famous paddlers are, of course, the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1805-6. The recent Bicentennial included designation of new National Park lands commemorating their journey, and many parts of their route can be retraced. The expedition endured endless rain in 19th century gear and often subsisted on rotten elk meat. If you do retrace their route, I don’t recommend that last bit.

The Columbia River Water Trail: Connecting the Dots
For modern paddlers, a new Water Trail is taking form on the Columbia. The Lower Columbia River Water Trail (a program of the Lower Columbia River Estuary Project) is creating a 140-mile connection from Bonneville Dam (in the Columbia Gorge) to the Pacific Ocean. The river is the trail; most of the work is in establishing campsites and launch spots, instilling Leave No Trace principles, and educating paddlers about the often-challenging conditions on the Columbia.

But of all my days paddling the Columbia, my favorite was my first circumnavigation of an island at the eastern end of the Gorge. We started out on a sunny day with an east wind. At lunchtime it reversed into a dark, howling wind from the west that had us flying down perfect waves. Then the wind died, leaving us to glide smoothly past pictographs painted on the rocks. Like most on the Columbia, it was a day full of surprises.

If You Go

Water Trails
Lower Columbia River Water Trail:
www.columbiawatertrail.org and www.lcrep.org
The Lewis and Clark Columbia River Water Trail: A Guide for Paddlers, Hikers, and Other Explorers by Keith Hay (Timber Press)

Weather and Sea Conditions
National Weather Service: www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr
Columbia River Current Predictions: www.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/currents07/tab2pc2.html#112
Columbia River Gorge Wind Forecasts: www.wind-surf.net

Outfitting, Tours, and Instruction
Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe: www.aldercreek.com
Columbia River Kayaking: www.columbiariverkayaking.com

Neil Schulman’s office is about a block from the Willamette River, a tributary of the Columbia, in Portland, OR. He spends too much time at his desk, but someday that will change.