Columbia Chronicles Columbia Trip Includes Portage Around 7 Dams

The dam workers were expecting us and arrived at the boat launch about the time we beached.

They loaded our inflatable boat onto their flatbed pickup, drove a half mile around the dam and the Wanapum Indian village at its west end and unloaded the boat on the downstream side.

“You should have good current the rest of the trip,” said one of the men.

Priest Rapids is the final dam on our 420-mile Columbia River trip from Canada to Pasco. Downstream are 90 miles of unfettered current, the longest free-flowing stretch of the Columbia in the United States.

We already had portaged around six dams. None of them has locks for lifting and lowering boats, as do the dams on the Snake River and the lower Columbia.

We spent a day exploring Grand Coulee, then rushed around the next two, Chief Joseph and Wells, with hardly a glance.

Chief Joseph is the nation’s second-largest power producer. But 50 miles downstream from Grand Coulee, it might as well be 200th on the list for all the attention it gets.

At Rocky Reach Dam, seven miles north of Wenatchee, we crashed a wedding, beaming like close friends as Aaron Belt and Kim Schiller stood barefooted before a judge and 17 witnesses.

A crew of 12 keeps the Rocky Reach grounds immaculate. Each year, they plant 25,000 annual flowers, many of which are eaten by formerly-domestic rabbits that entertain tourists. The bunny population peaks the week after Easter and is kept in check by local coyotes.

At Rock Island, 10 miles south of Wenatchee, workers helped us inflate the boat at a boat launch normally off limits to the public. We received the same treatment 40 miles downstream at Wanapum, the dam that forced the town of Vantage to move to higher ground.

Vantage residents armed with clubs stood at the waters edge in 1963, as Wanapum pushed back the river. The expected parade of fleeing rattlesnakes never materialized. From Wanapum, it is 18 miles of glassy water to Priest Rapids.

Today, Hanford Reach is the last place on the Columbia where salmon spawn in significant numbers.

Workers will help travelers with small boats portage around most Columbia River dams. But they must be notified in advance.

For help at Grand Coulee, call (509) 633-9503.

At Chief Joseph, call (509) 686-3501

At Wells, call the Douglass County PUD at (800)-503-7990.

At Rocky Reach and Rock Island dams, call the Chelan County PUD at (509) 633-8121.

At Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams, call the Grant County PUD at (509) 765-3451.

, DataTimes