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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Paddling the
Williamson
A lazy Sunday brings good
company and a little fun on the river
H&N photos by Lee
Juillerat Nathaniel Boren, left, and Jacob McGonigle,
right, try their hands at paddling a kayak down the
Williamson River.
WILLIAMSON RIVER — It’s a sight I’d seen hundreds of times — the Williamson River as it briefly curls alongside Highway 97 south of Chiloquin.
With a group of friends, I reversed the view, seeing the highway from the river, along with sights that only those who float the Williamson see.
Four hours
Our mini-flotilla included two kayaks, a canoe and a rubber raft on a lazy Sunday afternoon trip from the Klamath County park across from the Chiloquin rodeo grounds to the Williamson River Store, a distance of about five miles.
During our four hours we viewed preening commorants and cautious mergansers, passed by the riverside Lonesome Duck Ranch and Resort, cruised alongside a newly built water diversion plant and glided past anglers in boats and rubber kayaks. We gave the kids some cheap thrills while weaving through light riffles, and sometimes got stuck — and out of our boats — in suddenly shallow sections where natural lava reefs thinned the current to a trickle.
Kayaks and canoes
It was a day for slathering on sunscreen, drinking filled water bottles dry and devouring those last-minute snacks bought at the Williamson River Store. We’d stopped at the store to rent the kayaks and canoes. Owner George Stott began renting kayaks and canoes late last summer. If the demand increases, he plans to add more.
For another $10, Stott shuttles the kayaks and canoes to take-in spots. Most start at the county park where we launched, or further upstream at Collier Memorial State Park, which doubles the distance.
Stott said we covered the distance faster than most groups, especially fishermen lured by the river’s reputation for hard-fighting, trophy-sized rainbow trout.
Fishing the river
Brian Dyck, vacationing from Nevada,
fly-fishes along the Williamson River.
Thousands of anglers, including serious fly-fishermen like Brian Dyck, annually visit to test their skills.
“The only reason more people aren’t doing fishing is because it’s difficult,” said Dyck, who lives in Verdi, Nev., and was spending a week fishing the Williamson.
“It’s been pretty good for me. Not red-hot, but I’ve caught a couple of good ones. The birding has been as good as the fishing,” he said, telling about incredibly close sightings of bald eagles — “Those birds are huge” — and a variety of ducks, song birds and other waterfowl.
After passing Dyck, we continued downriver.
While big rigs and summer vacationers passed overhead, we rode the riffles under the bridge near the Highway 97-62 junction, glided past riverside homes and ranches, then altered our courses under the Modoc Point Road bridge, where more than a dozen teenagers took turns plunging off the bridge
Side Bar
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