Canoeing a Time-warp: Coal Creek and Fisher Sloughs
Visit this wetland by canoe or kayak. It is too densely wooded in places, and too riddled with wet and hidden channels in others to visit on foot. Consult your tide table; on a high tide you can penetrate deeper into this magic place.
André Stepankowsky writes of it: "Voyaging through this 600-acre wetland is like going back to a wilder era before white settlers began filling marshes and building cities along the lower Columbia River. It is the largest tract of undiked, unspoiled wetland in Cowlitz County."
Look for crabapples and red osier dogwood as well as stately old cottonwoods and tortured Oregon ash. Look for luxuriant moss and licorice ferns on the overhanging boughs. If you paddle quietly you are almost certain to see mallards, mergansers, great blue herons, kingfishers, and spotted sandpipers in season, in addition to the little birds you are more likely to hear than to see--goldfinches, chickadees, warblers, and flycatchers.
Visit this wetland by canoe or kayak. It is too densely wooded in places, and too riddled with wet and hidden channels in others to visit on foot. Consult your tide table; on a high tide you can penetrate deeper into this magic place.
André Stepankowsky writes of it: "Voyaging through this 600-acre wetland is like going back to a wilder era before white settlers began filling marshes and building cities along the lower Columbia River. It is the largest tract of undiked, unspoiled wetland in Cowlitz County."
Look for crabapples and red osier dogwood as well as stately old cottonwoods and tortured Oregon ash. Look for luxuriant moss and licorice ferns on the overhanging boughs. If you paddle quietly you are almost certain to see mallards, mergansers, great blue herons, kingfishers, and spotted sandpipers in season, in addition to the little birds you are more likely to hear than to see--goldfinches, chickadees, warblers, and flycatchers.
Port Longview owns most of this pristine area and has agreed to keep their part of Coal Creek in a natural state.
To reach the put-in, drive out of Longview on Ocean Beach Highway. Shortly after you pass Willow Grove Connection on your left and Coal Creek Road on your right, but before you cross Coal Creek itself, look for an inconspicuous drive downhill to your left. Paddle down Coal Creek Slough for about a mile,almost to Willow Grove; Fisher Slough is on your left. You can paddle another mile or so into the turns and twists of this quiet waterway.
