Kayaker's Paradise

Happy Travels from Garibaldi, OR!

Welcome to the Oregon Coast Diaries blog where I will pontificate on the glories and wonders of the enchanted Oregon Coast. More specifically, the northern coast around the Tillamook area. Yes, for those of you near enough, the same Tillamook famous for it's cheese.

But, did you know that besides a large population of happy cows making that cheese, there are also 5 beautiful rivers running into Tillamook Bay... let's see if I remember them: Trask, Wilson, Kilchis, Miami, and, oh of course, the Tillamook. In addition, there are many wetland sloughs that wind around from the bay. Now, I'm trying to figure out exactly what a slough is, doesn't sound very nice by itself, but I can tell you they do look very pretty AND kayak-able.

In fact, I'm amazed at how many times I drive around the county and say to my wife, "I could see me kayaking on that river" or "wow, that looks like a beautiful stretch of paddling!". But, to my dismay, I RARELY see another kayaker out there enjoying what I see to be these little flows of water directly from Heaven. I think Tillamook county could easily become the next kayaker's paradise with all it has to offer. If you are a kayaker reading this and have kayaked any of these beautiful waterways, please post your comments, I'd love to hear them!

So, this very novice of a kayaker still needs to find his perfect craft, but for now from my home at the Pelican's Perch Bed and Breakfast (www.thepelicansperch.com), I can rent one very reasonably within 15 minutes north at the Wheeler Marina (www.neahkahnie.net/wheelermarina/) on the beautiful Nehalem River, or 10 minutes south at Passing Thyme (www.passingthyme.com) where I can put-in on the Tillamook slough system.