Kayak The Duwamish? Honestly, Give It A Try

The Duwamish is not a peaceful retreat amid the rushes. It is not a place to find exotic waterfowl or otters sliding down the banks, at least not when I've been there. It is a working river, but it is glamorous in its own right. And it's close enough so that many Puget Sound residents can paddle it in the course of half a day.

I've taken my sea kayak out twice on the industrial waterway, where planes fly over as often as majestic birds. I want to go back and do the entire stretch so I can see the waterway's transition from near-rural meanders to a bustling international port. It's 12 miles to Elliott Bay from Fort Dent County Park, which borders Tukwila and Renton near where the Green River becomes the Duwamish. The paddle takes four to five hours. From my two trips alone, I appreciate how much there is to enjoy just a few blocks from our major highways.

A few days ago I launched my boat with another member of the baidarka-building class I took at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. We decided to start from a marina in Seattle's South Park neighborhood. After a few moments of congratulating each other for our building skills, we put our elegant, lightweight craft in the water and headed north. The tugs didn't travel upstream from where we were so we didn't have to look behind us so often to avoid being run over.

We enjoyed the effects of the flowing tide, which made it easier to paddle upstream than down. We saw some regal schooners, ostentatious yachts, and what looked like a bright gold submarine.

We also saw a pair of ducks with 10 ducklings, some Canada geese with a gang of awkward goslings, and two tiny ducklings who appeared to have strayed from their parents. Later we were glad to see them with a male mallard. Every 10 minutes the sun was blocked completely by a jet ready to land at Sea-Tac.

After scooting under a footbridge and admiring what looked like quite a rose garden along the banks, we turned around at the south end of a Boeing building. Further north, Interstate 5 crosses over the waterway just as it curves by Foster Golf Course in Tukwila.

We later saw a large hawk soaring overhead, with white markings characteristic of an osprey. The banks were pretty muddy because the tide was still low. We saw large pipes where runoff would enter the waterway, and the ghosts of docks past, which were now sentinel timbers. They looked like walkways to and from nowhere.

A few weeks ago I had spent two hours on the more industrialized section of the waterway finishing a kayaking course with Lee and Judy Moyer, who run Pacific Water Sports. A dozen of us gatheredto run through a couple of exercises - paddling backward, playing follow the leader. Then we headed upstream, peeking into dry docks, enjoying the industrial scenery on a placid, bright evening when the water was mirror-smooth.

I remembered the other boats I had tried a few years ago, including one heavy plastic one that was as hard to move as a balky door. But in my own kayak, I felt so comfortable that my paddles felt like an extension of my body, as if I were swimming with flippers.

We scooted under the pilings of some of the waterside buildings, long dark hallways where adventurous kayak chase scenes could be set. It was hard to move smoothly, when my paddle would regularly hit the barnacle-encrusted posts, but it was fun to aim for the light at the end of the tunnel.

There are a variety of put-in spots on the waterway. We had good luck at a spot off of Diagonal Avenue. That road heads west off of Marginal Way, two lights south of where Highway 99 comes down off the viaduct. There's parking there and no launch fee. It's right across from Kellogg Island, formed during the dredging of the channel and worth a visit during blackberry season. You can put in as far south as Fort Dent County Park and scoot down to the harbor for a longer trip. Be aware of shipping traffic and know the tides, as the current can be strong. And there is also a rapid at low tide near where the river runs under Pacific Highway South.

Tina Kelley's column runs Fridays in Northwest Weekend. She can be reached at Northwest Weekend, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or via e-mail at weekend@seatimes.com.