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Christmas Ships on Sauvie Island

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Anna
Christmas Ships on Sauvie Island

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Christmas Ships is a Portland tradition since 1954, so this is their 70th anniversary! If you've never seen them...Wait, what do you mean you've never seen them?

Dozens of local boaters (and the Coast Guard!) decorate their vessels, large and small, with festive lights and music and slowly parade down various routes along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers while crazed fans gather in crowds to hoot and holler at them from the shore. There's quite a bit of drunken shenanigans among the rows of floating houses.

Happily, I've found an intimate location far from the hordes where each glowing ship slips across the glassy black surface of the Multnomah Channel in perfect peace. Leaves rustle, owls hoot, and the water laps gently on the muddy banks of Sauvie Island while an electric rainbow glides silently by. Ahhhh.

We'll gather in the Wapato Access Greenway parking lot by 5 PM (get there early!) and carpool and caravan to a secret location about 15 minutes away. The viewing area is small, so we'll arrive early to stake out a spot. We'll have half an hour or so for birding in the dark down the country road (hopefully, owls!) before the ships appear around the bend. If the weather is dry, there is plenty of room for camping chairs. If it's raining, we'll open umbrellas. The colors are even prettier in the rain.

An added bonus to this location is that, since the road parallels the river, you can watch the ships all over again from another spot or from atop the Sauvie Island Bridge because you'll pass them again on the way back.

Bring $5 cash, water/hot beverage/snacks, camp chair, blankets, headlamp/light source, binoculars, umbrella, weather appropriate clothing, and your photography video gear. You'll be settin' up the tripod on uneven gravel or squishy dirt.

***Wear LOTS of layers of warm clothing, way more than you think you'll need. I'm talking long underwear, woolen socks, fuzzy hat, the works. There's no restroom on site but, you know, darkness and shrubbery. Adults only, please, and no pets, thanks.

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Contemplative Hiking Society
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Wapato Access Greenway State Park
18846 NW Sauvie Island Rd · Portland, OR
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$5.00
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