Overview

Knoxway & Lower Granite Lake Cruises

Knoxway Bay  

Trip down on June 21 very nice. Pretty evening, then the wind and rain, blew in strong - glad we were secure inside the Bay.  It really makes a difference. The next morning was clear with an up river breeze.  Sailed back June 22 at 3-6 mph.  Five people went down with us.  No mutinies, so I guess it was a success.

Cap`n Crash Sweet Haven

(Conrad Breitenstein)

Lower Granite Lake

Also in this space is a report from Ralph Aeschliman on his cruise of the Lower Granite Lake, including Knoxway Bay, which was conducted the previous week, June 15-21.  Ralph sailed his, new to him, Nordica 16 Pollywog.

Launched Sunday, June 15th about 11:30 AM. What to my surprise, another Nordica 16 was setting up to launch. The Harry's Boat. On setting up I discovered I had lost a split ring from one of my shrouds and Harry's Boat had some to spare, thank goodness!

Launched with nearly no wind. After motoring over to Harry's Boat and taking some pix I set off for my 'trip' down river. The going was slow and I poked around the shallows looking at possible future anchorages etc. When I got in the vicinity of Chief Timothy Park, I checked out some of the bayous on the upriver side. Set the anchor in the little bay inside of the two little islands, anchored in about 8 feet of water, mud bottom. Got a chance to use my brand new 9 lb stainless steel Delta Fast Set anchor!  A beautiful piece of sculpture, and a great anchor design. I had a 22 lb (galvanized) Delta on my Islander 32 and I LOVED it! That evening a huge riverboat went downstream, the Columbia Queen or some such.

Anyway, I set up the cockpit awning, had lunch, inflated the dingy, and explored the local shoreline and took some pix. Saw some beavers nearby. Mostly spent the afternoon and evening napping and reading. I'm re-reading the second volume in Patrick O'Brien's “Aubry-Maturin” series, Post Captain. Next morning after breakfast and coffee and learning some crummy techniques for using a porta-potty in a very small boat, I headed down river. I had a gentle down river breeze for about an hour. Then I was becalmed for awhile and then a gentle up-river came up. Got to Knoxway Bay about 4:30 in the afternoon and scanned the bottom for anchoring possibilities, but tied up to the multitude of pilings/snags supplied by the Bay. Put up cockpit awning and inflated the dingy, rowed ashore and took pix. Spent evening making dinner, reading, playing the ukulele, etc.

Next Morning (Tuesday) started out very windy. Watched the wind during breakfast and coffee. It was really blowing up-river! I wondered if I should just hunker down for the day or 'sail' up river with the more than adequate energy supplied by the River God. Decided to try sailing, what the heck - I might get a chance to try my new jiffy reefing system. Well it was VERY windy!! Decided to use jib alone. It worked fine, took me up river against the current at a good pace. I was a little concerned that the jib might blow out but it held up great. I discovered that my boat is poorly set up to change jib sheets from port to starboard & visa versa. They hang up on any conceivable object, they require a lot of handling, especially from the leeward side of the boat (while the tiller must also be handled), etc. Will give me some more problems, ?challenges? to solve this summer, eh?

Anyway, it was an exciting sail from Knoxway Bay back to Chief Timothy Park where I once again anchored up and rested. Ate, read etc. By Wednesday morning, the gale had died down and, after a couple of furious gusts, died completely. Weighed anchor and tried sailing for awhile, but just drifted down river while slowly trying to tack. Cranked up the engine and powered up to Clarkston. At one point another big riverboat came up and passed me, the stern-wheeler Majestic. I didn't know these things plied the Snake, are they floating casinos or what? At the ramp someone left a note on my car that they had brushed against my trailer and trashed a tail light and where to reach them and tell them what the repair cost. Nice of them to leave a note! So it gives me an excuse to upgrade my tail lights to LED’s.

Ralph Aeschliman, Pollywog  Nordica 16

Knoxway Overview

Coordinator

Conrad Breitenstein  EMail

Schedule

Leave Hells Canyon Resort at 10:30 am Saturday 6/21 & leave Knoxway Bay at 1:30 pm Sunday to return.

Location

Knoxway Bay is a primitive camp area w/ no facilities located on the south shore of the Snake River/ Granite Lake.

This a water access only facility, there is no road access.

It is 15 miles downriver from Clarkston and 5 miles upriver from Wawawai.  This Overview Map shows it’s location between Wawawai and Lewiston. 

The panorama of the Bay was pieced together by Conrad from five photographs. It has a few usage wounds, but this digital scan allows one to zoom in for about four times the resolution of the original pictures, providing good details of features in and back of the Bay.

The full 450 KB Chart Image is also available.

GPS: 46°34.7'N, 117°19.9'W

Cruise Summary

The objectives of this cruise are:

1. •Have Fun,
   

2. •Get to know members,
   

3. •Easy, informal, shake-out,
   

4. •Learn to sail by crewing,
   

5. •Primitive camping,
   

6. •Etc.
   

Options to Participate

There are many ways to participate in this cruise:

1. •Learn to Sail.  Contact the Coordinator and he might be able to hook you up w/ the appropriate boat.  Experience launching, rigging, sailing, patient listening to improbable yarns, etc. - all with low stress, after all, it’s not your boat ...
   

2. •Join-up in Clarkston.  Contact the Coordinator for your boat to join up up with the cruise at Hells Canyon Resort in Clarkston.
   

3. •Ride & Camp.  Hitch a ride on a boat, & camp at the Bay. 
   

4. •Tie-up, Raft-up, Camp. 
   

1.