Google searches of the Luckiamute River bring up little info of interest to the boater.  River gauges, avg flow, etc… nothing you couldn’t determine just by looking off a bridge.  On the map, it’s a meandering twisty little river that cuts through farms and fields before it joins up with the Willamette.  I guess-timated about 12 river miles, just right for a Sunday paddle.  Since I’d never run this section, and neve heard of anyone who has, I wasn’t keen to take the family. My brother is boating down in California, so it would be a solo trip for me.  The weather was in the high 70′s and sunny, so to an Oregonian, it felt like a heat wave.  I threw some beer and pop in the boat, grabbed my PFD and some paddles, and off I went.

From the put in at Sarah Helmick State Park, you go generally east to meet the Willamette.  You quickly pass under Hwy 99.  At about 6 miles, there is a railroad trestle, and then a couple miles later you pass under Corvallis Rd, and then Buena Vista Rd.  I put on at 10:30, was at the railroad trestle at 12:40, Corvallis Rd at 1:40, and at Buena Vista Rd at 2:40.  Then it’s another 1 or 1.5 hours to the Willamette.

The river is muddy and shallow, about 2′ at the put-in, and filled with snags, stumps, and logs.  The banks are brushy and steep… willows, blackberries, and heavy growth make access unpleasant but possible.  The river winds close to roads for long stretches, but the dens brush and trees make it feel very secluded, like a jungle cruise.  The first six miles had nice current, and a few logs across the river, but channels to slip through with out incident.  A couple spots the river made a hard 90 degree bend and narrowed into a chute with little standing waves and some little holes, but nothing over class 1+.  Usually in these spots, the willows grew out across the water, it’s critical to keep a nice straight line down the channel.  To veer off into the brush would be a mess.  After the trestle, the river widen, gets deep, and becomes almost slack.  I found it easier to stand and paddle the canoe like a pole-boat after a while.  I had a beer and relaxed, enjoying the warm afternoon.

I got out at the trestle and climbed up onto it.  It was pretty neat, and a lot of debris had collected against the base.  I could see that in prior floods, the debris had been up to the tracks.  It was hard to imagine this little river 35′ higher than it’s current level…  During floods, logs and debris bent and tore the steel structure right at the level of the tracks!

there were several of these bends that narrowed into a little wave train.  Often you could eddy at the top and peer down, but you couldn’t see all the way to the end.

During the course of the trip, I saw 2 deer, 3 raccoons, 4 owls, 2 hawks, an osprey, a turtle, and some kind of critter, I’m not sure if it was a beaver, an otter, or a nutria.  I saw no sign of any other recreational user… no monofilament line, no fishing lures, no trails, no beer cans, nothing.  I did see many signs of agricultural use.. pumps, water uptakes, and several powerline crossings.  A couple of 1950′s cars had been pushed over the bank and were rusting in the mud.

Below the trestle, an ash tree had fallen acoss the river bank-to-bank.  A portage would have been difficult, so i just picked a line and laid down in the canoe at the last second.  I almost made it under, but a branch caught the stern and turned me, the bow bumped into a log and stopped.  It didn’t take much to grab the branches and extricate myself, and off I went.

When I reached Buena Vista Rd I had been paddling for about 4 miles.  There was a light wind, just enough to blow me sideways and upstream.  I decided to call my wife and have her pick me up at the bridge, cutting the trip short.  I had originally planned to paddle to the Willamette (another hour without wind) and then continue to the town of Independence (an additional 2 hrs).  The roads out in this area are rural and a little confusing, and it took Mrs Speelyei an hour or so to find me.  While I was waiting, a State Trooper pulled over and talked to me about the trip.  He said he’d never run it, and wanted to know all about it.  We had a nice chat, and I got a nice sunburn, and then hauled my stuff up to the road.