SEASCUM’S LAST VOYAGE
© words and photos by MJ McGalliard
SeaScum and SeaScum II were safely loaded on the portage
vehicle Otis, cameras, life-jackets and lunch all packed. There was nothing left to do except pick up
Supervising Adult Craig and begin our journey.
The trip was not exactly spontaneous, but it could have been
better equipped. SeaScum in particular
shouldn’t have been out on the river that day.
SeaScum’s hull had been patched for the 5th time and although
the repairs looked good, you just never know.
When the possibility of Seascum’s patch failing came up, we joked about
duct tape and as part of the bit I peeled a long strip off of the roll and
stuck it to the boat. Ha, ha.
Going down a river in territory you are familiar with is an
experience in bent reality because the perspective is so different. Roads and railroads pass overhead as you
drift in the current and you can only guess where you are in relation to
intersections, farmland, Starbucks and other essentials of modern life.
The river was low, running in the early part of June at the
level it usually runs in August. This made
things less exciting, but we were out to paddle the river, not defy death.
We bumped and scraped along, SeaScum bumping and scraping
more than SeaScum II because it draws more water. We stopped for lunch on a sandbar still a
ways from civilization although the evidence was all around us. Massive logs chained and cabled together as
debris control for when the river floods.
Backwater holding ponds for the extra water in the winter and spring
have been carved into the surrounding land.
So much work and money put into an infrastructure that most people
downstream never even know about.
It was in the wilds between Kent and Tukwila that SeaScum
started taking on water. Bailing worked
for a while, but I couldn’t bail and paddle at the same time so we pulled out
to inspect the damage. The patch on
SeaScum’s stern had failed. There was a
long, jagged edge where the patching material had pulled away from the hull
leaving plenty of room for water to join me in the cockpit.
We were a long way from anywhere, down one boat and had only
one option. The ‘joke’ bit of duct tape
I had slapped on the hull became, after some careful cleaning and drying, the
patch on the patch. I prayed The
Mythbuster’s were right and it would hold.
It did hold, for another three hours when we met our biggest challenge yet.
It did hold, for another three hours when we met our biggest challenge yet.
By then we were in the
Duwamish estuary and there was evidence all around us of the river’s working
history. Abandoned docks, heavy machinery
and what I like to call River Trolls.
These are made of rotted off piers of docks long gone but sustain grasses growing out of their tops.
This was all very interesting, but defeat was rushing to
meet us head-on. Time and tide waits for
no man and sometimes is not very kind to kayakers, either. The current of the tide was rushing in faster
than the river was running when we put in at Van Doren’s Landing and our
paddling arms were close to spent after six hours.
When SeaScum started taking on water again, Supervising
Adult Craig said, “I’m done.” And headed for the bank.
It was by no means a great place to land being about 15 feet
up a steep slope to something we couldn’t see, but traffic noise told us we
weren’t in Kansas anymore. We gained the top with both boats, a little
cursing and a small amount of blood.
I’ve never time traveled or teleported, but it felt like I
had when we popped up over the bank almost directly on a bike trail with
several office buildings and a big multistory parking garage all only yards away.
We were back in civilization, but where? I took a moment to review our situation- We
had just popped out of the brush muddied, bloodied and sunburned, probably not
the best time to stop a stranger and ask that embarrassing question, “Excuse
me, Sir. Where am I?”
In order to avoid this I made appropriate use of technology
and using a nearby ATM checked my balance thereby obtaining an address for the
support team to pick us up.
