Your favorite river

River travel is stressful because the waters are constricted and shoals appear almost everywhere. This requires continuous, intense attention. Nevertheless, rivers are highly interesting because of that and the close-by scenery.

So far, the Petaluma is most interesting to me while the closer-to-me Napa River is a close second.

Here are a few photographs of our March (with Ray's Mahalo Moi) and in May with the Mahalo Moi, Al's FlyWright, and Gene's Bot on the Petaluma River.

Mahalo Moi entering the Petaluma River:



Mahalo Moi with Admiral Vickie on deck, in the upper navigable portion of the river (walk-around decks rock ):



Mahalo Moi, FlyWright, and Bot following the Coot down river (love those golden brown, tree-lined hills):



Vineyard and collapsed barn along the river:



Talk to us about "your" river.

Wye River East on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

We've only just begun exploring the California Delta Estuary system and have much yet to see. We look forward to visiting White Slough soon followed by the Meadows of Sacramento. So far though our favorite is the False River off the San Juaquin. It has many acceptable and protected anchorages with great swimming.

CPseudonym said:

... So far though our favorite is the False River off the San Juaquin. It has many acceptable and protected anchorages with great swimming.

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The fresh-water Delta certainly has better swimming than either the Petaluma or Napa rivers which I have no incentive to immerse my body.

Wye River/Dividing Creek on the Chesapeake; Waccamaw River on the ICW

Two favor Wye River. Provide more details, please.

markpierce said:

Two favor Wye River. Provide moAre details, please.

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Wye River is a short river of about 10 miles long. It is off the Miles River which runs off Eastern Bay of the Chesapeake. For its length it has an amazing amount of anchorages. Dividing Creek has been mentioned. Also two good ones are Grannery Creek and Quarter Cove. There are others. Foliage surrounds. There are some large estate homes that boarder it with lovely grounds and homes. The crabbing is good, and good isololation. Anchoring in the fall is magical. Hearing the call of animals, and seeing a fox or deer come to the edge of the water. At night geese fly into the fields honking and crossing the full moon. It really is that magical.

The Waccamaw also mentioned would be one of my all time favorites. I also love trout streams such as the Madison and North Fork of the Henry in Wyoming and Idaho but they are mostly not navigable for our boats..

We finf the TN River to be very scenic and very well marked.

The Tennessee by a long shot. The gourge downstream from Chattanooga is incredible and the locks make the Panama Canal look like a toy. Hopefully someone will post lock photos.

Tingum said:

The Tennessee by a long shot. The gourge downstream from Chattanooga is incredible and the locks make the Panama Canal look like a toy. Hopefully someone will post lock photos.

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The Tennessee has to rank right up there with our great inland cruising rivers. I live one block off the water front in Chattanooga. I lived on Signal Mountain (one wall of the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee) for 40 years. My son lives on Brady Point which is one of the prominent points looking into the gorge. I love the Tennessee. I was raised on its shores and swimming in it. At about 700 miles long it offers great cruising in clean fresh water.

The Wye! We will be there this coming weekend.

I would say the Chester River on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, followed very closely by the Wye. The edge goes to the Chester because it has Chestertown at the practical head of navigation.

Close call though.

Mike

Sceptic said:

I would say the Chester River on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, followed very closely by the Wye. The edge goes to the Chester because it has Chestertown at the practical head of navigation.

Close call though.

Mike

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Hey Capt. Mike,

The Chester is beautiful, and Chestertown is very good. The marina and dock facilities kind of suck. The Wye is almost across the Miles River from St. Michaels which is a great town. Does that count?

There are so many good rivers on the Chesapeake. The Tred Avon is also among my favorites.

My favorite River to boat on locally is the lower Snohomish behind Everett Wa.
These pics are in Steamboat slough.

My other favorite is the Fraser in lower BC.
It's much bigger, more interesting and leads to Pitt Lake.

My favorite river is the Middle Fork of the Salmon. I know, not the same but hey, a guys got to do what a guys got to do, to get on the water in landlocked Idaho. But it really is a beautiful trip. Going there next week for a 100 mile, week long float

We only have one navigable river in the area; the Murray. It would be considered the "Mississippi" river of Oz, being the biggest & longest.

Entering the mouth from the southern ocean is quite a challenge, but once your in there, the river is relatively easy to navigate for about 1000 miles. I hope to get in there for some fresh water cruising sometime in the next year or two.

Here's a video of one boat giving the Murray mouth a go.
Murray Mouth - YouTube

Capt Don,

I’ve never cared much for St. Michaels, maybe because I’ve been there so many times.

When we go there we usually drop the hook outside the harbor and dingy in to the town dock next to the Crabshack and walk up the street to the A&P.

When done we head out to the Wye where we anchor for a few days, and gam with the trotliners. A six pack will get you a big meals worth of fresh crabs.

Wish I were there now.

Never tied up in Chestertown, always anchored.

Mike

High on my bucket list is to do the Missouri from top to bottom mimicking the greatest River journey ever, Lewis and Clark. L&C's journey set up USA trade and development for the next 100 years helping to establish the US as a world economic power and putting the wheels in motion to boot Russia out of the PNW by opening the West Coast from Oregon to the Bering Sea.

The boat would be an outboard powered 28' to 30'Grady White or similar with live aboard capability. For many years in the late 1800s steam paddle wheelers made it all the way to Fort Benton MT from St Louis carrying freight back and forth.

After cruising the SF Bay area and Deltas as a boy and then cruising the Mississippi and Missouri later in life, to me there is no comparison if you like wide open places, water sports and River towns.

That is a great sounding trip Tom, and one filled with fantastic historical significance too. Wife and I have recently discussed keeping our Owens beyond our self imposed 5 year timeline to upgrade. Purchasing a trailer and having it shipped around the country to different river systems is our motivating factor.

Allegheny River

For me, it will always be the Allegheny River at "Henry's Bend, PA." I spent a big share of my childhood fishing and canoeing this river. Shooting Copperhead snakes on the railroad tracks at dusk, gigging Bull Frogs, groundhog, deer, bear & squirrel hunting, etc. There was nothing else I wanted to do but be on this river.

Sunchaser,
You might enjoy the book "River Horse." The writer did the Missouri traveling upstream to the headwaters in a 22 foot C-Dory. Hell of a tale . . .

River-Horse: A Voyage Across America: William Least Heat-Moon: 0046442636261: Amazon.com: Books

ddfishon said:

My favorite river is the Middle Fork of the Salmon. I know, not the same but hey, a guys got to do what a guys got to do, to get on the water in landlocked Idaho. But it really is a beautiful trip. Going there next week for a 100 mile, week long float

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Did that 30+ years ago. Our raft trip took five days: from the headwaters to the Snake River. The water is pristine: it's quite a contrast with the snake where clear water from the Salmon running along the murky Snake's.

The 335 navigable miles of the Columbia and the 155 miles of the Snake. Both of them meet right here in the Tri Cities and provide some very nice boating.

This is on the Columbia......

And here's a shot on the Snake at Ice Harbor Lock.....

The Musconetcong River in North Jersey!!

I Spent my boyhood Summers there, and boats and water travel were all fresh and new.

The Fraser River BC

The Fraser River in BC is my back yard. We spend most of our cruising weekends running the river here.

Great pics OFB. Especially the first and the last two.

Looks like our favorite rivers are the ones near by.

Walt. I think I'd like the Allegeny too.
How many animals have you killed in your life?

John. The Mus----------ong river? Is that dude in the canoe pic YOU!

Tom (sunchaser) says about the Missouri he'd want "The boat would be an outboard powered 28' to 30'Grady White". NAWWW don't need no stink'in yacht. A small OB or even a canoe would be more appropriate ... but only (I suppose) if one likes bugs. And Tom re your comment about "booting" the Russians out ........ we didn't. We bought them out. Russians are hard to boot.
But you got me a bit pumped on the Big Mo.

Pitt River BC

A couple of pics running the Pitt River into Pitt Lake off the Fraser River.

I find running the rivers stress free some what. Weather as in wind is just not an issue.

But we ran up into the lake this past long weekend in May. With a hard freshet ongoing the old 7 knot boat struggled against the current. Down under 2 knots on the Fraser. Sure was a fast run home

One also has to be very carefull with lots of skinny water through some sections.

The amount of material like logs with root balls etc also had me working the helm a lot.

Harrison Lake can also be reached through the Fraser River but only a few times of the year using local knowledge ( aka hired skipper ).

Not a great destination , the Fraser or Pitt rivers actualy. But for me being local it is grand.

The upper Mississippi, many old river towns to visit, Hannibal, Mo. is one of our favorites a nice day trip from the marina. Had planned a cruise to Muscatine, IA. this week but high water has delayed it. Here are some pics taken while helping a friend take his mainship down to Port Charles to have some work done to prepare it for doing the loop.