Okay, so this isn’t a hiking post (more on that later), but I do want to say congrats and yay for the Tillamook County Water Trail, which this week got recognition as a National Recreation Trail — the only one designated this year in Oregon.
From the official announcement:
“The Tillamook County Water Trail is a countywide, non-motorized recreational water trail system encompassing the area’s abundant rivers, sloughs, and bays. Five unique estuaries and their associated watersheds have a combined total of 1,820 square miles of water, over 250 of them navigable. A diversity of locales, scenery and experiences offers superior water-based recreational opportunities with paddling opportunities for every skill level from novice to advanced whitewater.”
I was introduced to this whole thing by a guy named Marc Hinz, of Kayak Tillamook County, which just created a Treasure Map of six kayak tours. I interviewed him once and wrote an article for the Daily Astorian about kayaking in the area.
Props also go to Julie Chick of the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, who have scheduled a celebration for August 17. From their press release:
You are invited to join the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, in celebration of this designation, at the PC County Boat Launch next to Bob Straub State Park on Friday, August 17th at 11 am. Details will include a short ceremony, chocolate cake and a kayak paddle at noon. So bring your friends, boats, neighbors and partners, and please join us. (more information to follow)
So, about hiking. Check out the Oregonian’s story on all this. It’s a story about kayaking in Tillamook County, right? Now, look at those photos. One is of a hiker — author Doug Lorain, no less — in the Gorge. The other is of people hiking up Neahkhanie Mountain, which is at least in Tillamook County.
Are you telling the Oregonian couldn’t find a single picture of a person in a kayak! What an impossibly lame website they have!