Cowlitz River, WA
After the Nehalem, we left Oregon and headed north to Washington. Meg had to catch a flight back home on Sunday out of SeaTac.
Our first stop on the way north was Cape Disappointment: Enough said…
From there, on to the Cowlitz River for Salmon fishing.
When we arrived at the river, we thought we only had one camp spot on the river to stay. I won’t name the campground, but for the money, the worst place we’ve stayed to date and the bathrooms were filthy.
The next morning, we started off fishing near the salmon hatchery. However, most of the salmon in that area were left over Chinook at the end of their spawn and at the end of their life. So, decided to go down river a few miles to the trout hatchery for better river access. Turns out, you can stay there up to 3 nights free. It’s dry camping, but that’s the reason we bought the rig we did. We have everything we need and are fully self-contained in the camper.
However, Meg needed to be on a flight the next day, so we fished a little and headed toward Seattle to drop her off at SeaTac. We stayed in Tacoma at a Sun Outdoors. They have multiple locations across the US. I am not recommending them for general camping. Obviously, I would rather be in a remote area on the river than a commercial campground. However, they are great to reset before dry camping/ boondocking. They all have a laundromat, WiFi, hot showers, etc. They’re a consistent spot to wash clothes, blankets, floor mats, clean the camper and prepare for another 2 weeks without amenities.
On this trip, I have been on many questionable roads: 1,000’ high dirt cliffs on one-way roads that are supposed to allow two-way traffic where you’re hoping no one is coming the other way, etc. No issues. But, I’ll admit, I was a little nervous dropping Meg off at SeaTac for the first time in the camper. Although I’ve flown out of SeaTac numerous times, I’ve never really thought about the layout, height restrictions and so on. Our rig is 11’-7” tall and almost as wide as a semi-truck.
After successfully dropping her off, I headed back to the Cowlitz. My first stop was at a small park and boat launch.
Although I have caught many trout on this trip, this was my first full sized salmon:
A bright Coho about 8lbs. It would have been the best eating size. However, the regulations stated all wild Coho must be released. I didn’t mind letting the fish go. The run in this river was healthy. Also, there were a ton of hatchery fish available to keep.
I then returned to the trout hatchery to enjoy my free camping with Salmon fishing included.
Cowlitz Trout Hatchery
We’ve had great weather for almost two months on this adventure. The pro-side of the great weather in late October is it’s warm and sunny. The con-side, the fish are not actively moving into the river systems or moving upstream due to lack of rainfall. On my return to the Cowlitz, typical Northwest weather finally showed up. It was wet, foggy, cold and rainy: exactly what the salmon needed. You can’t have it both ways. Even with the rain and the cold, the mornings were incredibly peaceful while awaiting the potential opportunity to land another salmon.
While fishing for Coho, I caught a beautiful Cutthroat Trout. I will definitely return to this river.
After a day of fishing in the rain, I was treated to this rainbow. If you notice, I only have the very top of the trees at the bottom of the picture. That’s because just below that was the bobbed-wire fence with razor-wire on top to protect the hatchery trout from poachers and I thought it would take away from the Zen moment ;)…
