PNC Days 105-106 – The ocean! The end!

We made it! This has been an amazing adventure unlike any we have done before. These two days took us through Grand Ronde, Kathlamet, Chinook, Siletz, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Konnaack, Skilloot, and Clatsop-Nehalem ancestral lands.

Day 105 – CR Mile 1,198.2 – Soooo close!

We were ready and waiting by the water before dawn, a bit anxious about wind and tides. We started paddling at first light, and it ended up being a beautiful day with good conditions! We were cruising at 5+ mph all morning with the outgoing tide. We made it to the estuary in the afternoon, and the tide switched to incoming. Our speed was cut in half, and it took more effort to maintain the slower speed. It has been super interesting to experience the effects of the tide on the river, especially so far upstream of the ocean! In the evening we came around a bend in the river and Astoria, OR came into view. Tim’s sister, Abby, was waiting on the bike path next to the river. She biked next to us for few miles as we canoed into the Astoria marina, which was so fun! We got a beer and dinner with her at the marina as we waited for Tim’s other sister, Jenny, and her family to arrive. We all stayed at a hotel in Astoria together. We had a blast hanging out and staying up way too late! Tomorrow we hope to finish the remaining 10-15 miles to the ocean. It is amazing to have a welcoming crew here at the end, and we are so thankful to have such supportive family and friends! -R

Day 106 – CR Mile 1212.1 – We made it!

We were up late last night feeling a mix of nervousness that something would keep us from finishing the trip and pre-celebratory emotions knowing we would most likely arrive at the Pacific after a short paddle in the morning. We woke up at 5 and our brother in law, Travis, drove us to the boat launch where we pulled out last night to start the final leg. We were in the water before sunrise with perfect conditions. The water was calm, the wind was calm, and outgoing tide was giving us a boost. But… the river is in control. After we passed under the river’s last bridge in Astoria, a thick fog rolled in. We hadn’t even considered fog as an obstacle before today, but the river is crowded now! Visibility was very low, and the “shipping lane” that ocean-going vessels use runs very close to the shore through Astoria. We hugged the shore, but a fisherman in a boat at least 100X bigger than ours pulled up next to us and told us we were crazy to be out. We pondered what to do and decided that we ARE crazy to paddle 1200 miles after walking 1500, and that he might have said the same thing if it was sunny (in which case we would have politely ignored him). Still, we were unnerved, especially a few minutes later when we had to leave the shore to cross a 2-mile open bay with no visibility. We couldn’t see either shore or anything other than water and fog in any direction. Fortunately the water was pretty shallow through most of the bay so we figured massive ships wouldn’t be coming through. But we heard a fog horn blasting in the distance about every 20 seconds, and sure enough as we left the bay we were just able to to make out a ghostly-looking cruise ship passing by. It must have been bigger than anything else we have seen on the water! The water stayed calm and the tide continued assisting our paddle toward the ocean, and before we knew it the beach that we planned to land on was in sight! There is a jetty protecting the beach from the open sea, and we didn’t know if we wanted to paddle all the way to the jetty or if we’d just go until the waves felt big. It wasn’t long before the waves got very big, so we turned the bow toward shore and paddled hard onto the beach. We made it!

As we got out of the boat we shouted our achievement to some nearby fisherman, and they brought over a couple beers to celebrate. 9:45 am Busch — perfect! We then walked down the beach and climbed over the jetty to really be standing on the shore of the Pacific. Wow! It was a surreal feeling to be done. As we strolled back, not running our GPS watches for the first time in months, my sister’s family arrived to celebrate with us. Then my sister Abby arrived. We had a picnic on the beach and soaked up the moment. -T

The PNC challenged us more than any trail we’ve done before. Unlike well-known long-distance trails, we know of nobody who’s done this full circuit before. That meant there were a ton of unknowns and few resources to pull information from. From choosing a start date, to finding a route connecting the hike and canoe, to figuring out how we’d get the boat around the Columbia’s 14 dams, we had to figure things out as we went. Athletically we were challenged too — we took 0 days off and felt like we were pushing our limits every single day. But, it was worth every second! The landscape, wildlife, people, and thrill of the trip are unmatchable. Reflecting on it all, the best word that comes to mind is: WOW!

Thank you!

We had so much support from family, friends, and strangers over the course of this trip! Thank you to everybody who has been a part of it. A special thanks goes out to…

• Abby for shipping our boxes along the trail and meeting us several times over the summer.
• The Kassel family for taking care of our cats all summer long.
• Rachel for letting us borrow your car to get to/from the trail.
• Uncle Dave for storing our canoe since 2018.
• Lizzie for storing our canoe at the start of the Columbia all summer long.
• Peter for helping us prepare in Seattle and meeting us on the trail.
• Jenny, Travis, and family for hosting us and meeting us at the finish.
• Scott and Amy for hosting us and helping us figure out logistics to get around all the dams.
• Janet and Iain for visiting and feeding us on the trail.
• Jack and others at the Yakima fishing camp for the hospitality when we got stuck in the wind.
• Bruce, Margo, Bethany, and Riley for your hospitality in Waterton.
• Maggie and fam for driving us around the closed border station and into Canada.
• Jake for helping coordinate so many things.
• Our colleagues and students for putting up with us being gone all summer.
• Everybody who followed along on this blog, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or anywhere else!
• And everybody else who lent a hand along the way, no matter how big or small.