Sidebar: Epic Canoeing - Pacific, WA to Ruston Way

John and I took a day off from work yesterday to do a little Lewis & Clark style exploration. We put my cedar strip canoe into the water at the city park in Pacific, Washington and paddled our way to Ruston Way in time for lunch.

We started in the White River. The river gave us a combination of free spirited curves and meandering straightaways. Within 100 yards of the start we misjudged a turn and ended up battling trees on the side of the river. From our vantage point we could hardly tell that we were in the midst of old farmland and new industrial parks. It was all very quiet.

The White River joined the Puyallup River a little after Sumner. The Puyallup was pretty much a straight shot low thrills river. The early miles were quite beautiful.

The last few miles of the Puyallup go through Tacoma’s industrial tideflats. Ignoring the occasional whiffs of industry, paddling this area was a highlight on our trip. We saw the Simpson Kraft pulp mill up close, watched the docks in action, and saw new buildings rising up next to run-down warehouses. It was amazing.

There was a bit of excitement entering Commencement Bay from the Puyallup River. The standing waves and churning water could’ve changed our outlook on the day significantly had we not stayed upright. We eventually hit flat water and found ourselves in the middle of Commencement Bay – a tiny spot on the water compared to the huge container ships and sawdust barges parked in the water.

From the middle of the bay the paddle to Ruston Way was relatively straightforward. We didn’t have the push of the river to help us anymore, but the tide was cooperating enough to get us to lunch.