Skokomish Delta,  Kayaking,  October 6, 2000     page 1 / 4

Ready to take advantage of another nice autumn day in Puget Sound, Libby and I set off for the Skokomish River delta at the southern elbow of Hood Canal. We put in at the public dock in Union. The water was fairly calm when we put in, making the mile or so of paddling to get to the mouth of the river straightforward. We approached just before high tide, taking advantage of the slack water period for minimum current. We saw many kinds of birds, including heron, cormorant, gulls and an eagle. Also in great abundance were sea lions.

We spent most of our time paddling the river and little time in the delta area itself, as can be seen from the photos below.

The breeze picked up a bit for our return trip, so we had a little chop to deal with, but the waves were no more than a foot or so from trough to crest. Libby having the greater experience at this point was quite comfortable with this. I was game to give it a try and did just fine as well, though the waves did make things a bit interesting at times!