Day 7: Siltcoos River Canoe Trail
Well, we hauled the dang kayaks all the way down here, and daggumit we’re gonna use ‘em. We discovered this little trip a couple years ago, called the Siltcoos River Canoe Trail, just south of Florence. It starts in a freshwater lake (Siltcoos Lake - who’da thunk?), enters a river leading westward through forest and sand dunes, widens out into an tidal estuary and, finally, empties into the Pacific. Distance one way: 3 miles. We see a wide variety of wildlife on this paddle: kingfishers, deer, otters, ducks, eagles, ospreys. This year, we got an extra thrill. As we were paddling around a bend, I heard a crashing in the brush up on a dune, and thought it must be someone’s dog loose and out chasing something. Then I heard a strange “gunk-gunk” sound, and then a mama black bear and two babies tore ass across an open stretch of sand and dove into the brush.
I immediately raised my camera to my face to try to catch a shot, and missed what my wife saw, the mama turn and stare pugnaciously back at us before disappearing into the brush. I snapped blindly, not really able to see much through my viewfinder. I may have caught her - see the cameo below and tell me what you think. It was an odd place for a bear encounter. We’d just crossed under the Highway 101 bridge, and into the Honeyman State Park. All around are cottages and car-camping areas, not much bear habitat, to our thinking.
From there on down to the ocean, my wife’s serene little drift became a little tense, as she speculated about how well bears can swim (real well, as it turns out). I told her I’d heard of damn few kayak-bear fatalities, but she remained vigilant. Later, one of our friends speculated that, to the bear, a kayaker was probably like some exotic shellfish that was a pain in the ass to get out of the shell, but worth the effort for the soft little meats inside.
Returning to the boat launch, we saw several bass boats zipping around the lake. One of the fishermen told us there was a bass tournament on Saturday, and they were out scoping out spots. Don’t know why I kept thinking of Hiassen’s Double Whammy after that.
So, is there a bear in the shadows there? Tomorrow: UFOs of the Oregon Dunes!
