Isthmus, Davis, and Shinglehouse Sloughs (Coos Bay)

At 7:00 am I launched at the boat ramp at the south end of the Isthmus Slough. The tide had been going out for two hours already so I had to leave early.

My plan was to paddle approximately 15 miles. Melissa had no interest in paddling that far so I found myself on my own.

About 2 1/2 miles up the Isthmus the Davis Slough joins it. I then paddled the entire way to the end of it against the outgoing tide. With no other people around, and the water as calm as it was, relaxing was very easy.

Throughout the paddle there was the occasional large farm style house. I never saw any cars or people around the houses. It would be a shame if these houses were forgotten.

After paddling back to the Isthmus and another 4 miles of paddling I came to the Shinglehouse Slough. The Shinglehouse is half a mile shorter than Davis and a little narrower. Time to paddle against the tide again.

When I was on the Shinglehouse I came across this bird that was unusually brave. It allowed me to paddle within 20 feet of it. I got some good pictures of it including this one.

This was my favorite house on the paddle. Two stories on the river with a wrap around deck, I'll take one.

This old barge had seen better days. I don't think it was even floating. It did have a line tied to the dock, kind of unnecessary but if I owned it I wouldn't want to lose this gem either.

It was raining off and on through out the paddle but only hard enough to gather on the lens of my camera and mess up the pictures until this point.

Here is the bridge that goes over the the Isthmus Slough were it connects with the bay. I am getting pretty tired at this point but I still have about 3 more miles to go.

With the end in sight I crossed paths with this tug boat. At this point, there was no wind and no rain. When the wakes came to me they were about 2 feet which is usually no problem but the water was as smooth as glass. Since there was no texture on the wave I could not tell exactly how fast they were moving or how deep they were. It was very unnatural. After I landed I had to walk across the 101 highway to the hotel and the kayak trailer with my kayak on my shoulder. It was the last paddle of my vacation. After 15 miles of paddling and a 200 yard kayak carry I am about done.