We are Excited!

Saturday Oct 9, AM

Today we are nearly to our destination!  We are just below the LAST DAM for an up-lift, and we will reach Clarkston WA this afternoon.

The marina in Lewiston ID is behind a bridge that is unmanned and requires 24 hours notice to lift, so we have decided to skip staying in Lewiston.  (Update:  Though the USCG Coastal Pilot states 24 hour notice, seems the last time the bridge in question was raised was 5 years ago, and it got stuck in the Up position.  So, they do not raise it anymore :-)   Probably, when we are ready to start heading back downriver, we will first take the boats up to where the Clearwater River joins the Snake, so we can say that we DID get to Lewiston.

When we pass through the Lower Granite dam, we will be at the highest elevation that Viking Star has EVER achieved!  She was 'born' at McQueen Boatworks in Richmond BC Canada and spent all of her life on the sea, much of it out of Juneau Alaska.   Lewiston is 465 river miles from the ocean, 325 on the Columbia, and 140 on the Snake.  We began our voyage in Vancouver WA, at river mile 105, making it 360 miles we have traversed.  Over the past three weeks, the eight dams we have passed through will raise us to 736 feet.

We look forward to reaching these milestones today.  And to once again have cell phone contact with families, and internet access.

Contact has been made with the dam, and we will be ready to go in a few minutes.