Posted on Craig's List July 11th.
Well finally the water seems to be beginning to recede.
Sandy areas, though saturated, are begining to appear.
The water is cold.
There are quite a few areas in the tall grass were "nesting" places have been made.
Mosquitoes are ever present - nasty little fuckers, so bring repellent.
Collins Beach this afternoon. Water levels are down and it was possible to walk from Entrance 3 to the north end (didn't quite go all the way) without wading. There is still some mud, but I didn't sink in. The mosquitoes were worse in the vegetation than on the sand, as usual, but not as ferocious as a week ago.
July 13th.
i finally made it out to Rooster Rock. The lower trail was under about six feet of water. My riend and I simply set up camp just off the higher trail next to the water. The problem was we were on a slope, which made it hard to move into positions to get eually sunned on all sides.
The water was cold when I first went in, but after a minute I got used to it, an dso although it is cold it is swimable.
Because my friend told me on her previous trip, ther were better areas futher in we were not really that far off eh main entrance. In retrospect we probably could have found a bit more level of an area to set up camp.
Tentatively plan to go again on Tuesday, July 17.
This was posted on Craig's list on July 16.
The river forecast looks bad for the rest of the week. Levels will
fluctuate but increase until the weekend (GOOGLE: "Columbia River
Stages"). The mosquitoes are VERY bad so take 2 cans of repellant
spray. After 40 years of RRocking I've seen worse, but it may be a very
long time before the beach is open.
Collins Beach: Water levels are quite a bit lower than the last time I was there a few weeks ago. There's a lot more beach now, and it's possible to walk without wading from entrance #4 to the north end - it appears to be the same south. Even in most places down by the water. The mosquitoes weren't even bad this evening.Full moonrise over the Columbia River was spectacular.
i went to Collins Beach today and the water level was down so tha tyou could walk the entire beach from the area at entrance 5 all the way to clothed beach. i accidentally went to far and ended up inteh clothed section, as there are no clear markers indicating where the nude beach ends and the clothed beach begins and i am also partially blind.
Anyway, go to any entrance from 1-5 and there will be some beach area. The trail between entrance 5 & 6 was dry, so I assume that areas 6-9 also has beach area, but i didn't explore in that direction, so i don't know 100% for sure.
I was at Rooster Rock this evening. While there were a few brave souls slogging through the knee-deep mud and water on the trails from the beach, I didn't have much time, and did not make it through. The good news is the mosquitoes were not bad at all.
i copied and pasted this from a post on Craig's List. The post was dated Aug. 7th.
Report: The main trails are mostly dry both the primary and secondary.
The cross trail from the secondary trail is still under water. The main
trail is dry all the way to the beach but you have to double back west
to get to the beach. The mud starts again just after you head west from
the sand dunes. It's going to be September before you can get to the
island (at least). Lots of dry areas, so don't be discouraged.
I went to Rooster Rock today, and as the overcast had not burned off completely when we arrived we explored a bit.
The lower trail that is the first to cut to the beach is under knee deep water, but you will come out onto dry land. once you reach the river, turn left and there are some small niches to set up camp, but you have to step over the trunks of fallen brush.
If you wich to not have to go through mud or water, take the high trail to the end, and then cut back around to the river and head West on the trail above the river. Eventual you will get to a nice beach, and there are a few niches along the way to settle in if you wish.
I swam out to Sand Island, and it is mucyh further than it looks when you start out and there is no place in between shores where your feet would touch bottom. I would advise if anyone is crazy enough to try it, that you look for a place where the two shores are closest.
For me it was a crazy idea to try it as i am recovering from leukemia and have nto regained my stamina back yet. However, when I got tired, i flipped onto my back and relaxed and caught my breath before continuing. Luckily for me somebody had a canoe ont eh island, and they gave me a ride back over, because i barely made it over the first time. Unless you swim regularly, I woudl not advise trying it. Still I had fun and got a great workout.
I added a photo taken at Rooster Rock to my profile. It came out makingme lok like I had not color at all, but I like the composition. When I saw some branches that stuck up high in the air I knew they would make a good background.
Anyway, it may be another month or more before you can walk out to sand island. The beaches are only just starting to appear. If you have a raft, canoe, small boat, you could avoid all the walking and just paddle y9ur way along the water line. Also a boat can carry more stuff in if you are making a full day of it. Not to mention that a boat of some kind may be handy if someone does somethign stupid like swim out to the island when they are not in proper shape, like I did.
just got back from Rooster Rock today and will hopefully go back tomorrow.
The first trail off to the left was leveled off by a backhoe and now the worst you would experience is slightly damp sand on the trail. No wading through water or tracking through mud. It is pretty dry.
You can now wade out to Sand Island. I waded out myself and ont eh way there, I followed the sadn bars and the deepest water was waist level. On the way back, I tried to wade in a straight line back to where we ahd settledon teh beach and the highest the water came was up to my nipples, about four and a half feet deep.
There were a lot more people out, but it still was not crowded.
Enjoy!
Actions
Back to TopicsReply to TopicShare this topic
Get paid just by sending us users/traffic.
Signup takes seconds, start now!
Signup as an affiliate!