Suuuup, yall!

I am in grad school and have a great summer internship op at a company with offices in Seattle and Portland. Which to pick?

I am looking for - decent access to daily after work paddling. I know world class weekend range paddling is available in either location. Surf and other fun outdoor stuff also a bonus. I am an experienced paddler with many class 5 seasons. That being said, I'm, not looking to huck huge vertical (after years of daily creeking on waterfall runs I compressed a disk last summer) often. I'm looking more for quality over vertical. From what I've seen, OR seems to offer more waterfalls while Seattle offer more rapids/clean boulder garden type of runs.

In any case, any quick pros/cons on location for the summer would be sweet. Have never lived in the PNW but have made several creeking trips to BC and love it up there.

Hey Dan, thanks man.

You are actually one of the guys I was gonna get in touch with if I make it up there! We paddled the NF Payette over the long weekend last summer. Wigston's friend from CO...

winter/ spring  is the boating season in WA and OR

Yeah Chris!  We are ready for more Colorado transplants up here!  Yes Robe is super fun but there is also Fall in the Wall, and the top Tye!  We have after work on the Sky and middle middle and green river gorge too for some more mellower stuff to bring the playboat out on too.  But Robe is the real close jem, sooo sooo good.  Fall in the wall could agrivate that back injury a bit, it is really close to town too.  What part of Seattle would you be in?  

Ptown is good, but Seattle has way more closer access rivers in the class III-IV range. For example and comparison: KPDX (Portland Airport) to the closest class II-IV  is about 55min through traffic moving normally, this is the Clakimus river.

Dude, I can almost gauranteee:
Homeboy ain't comin out here from Colorado to run the Cedar, ummKAY?

NOW lets keep this discussion on a serious tack.
Unless I am mis judging this man's skillz and/or uh...
whitewater orientation I'm inclined to go out on a limb and suppose the following...

Meng is in Grad school. In the prime of his life, and a paddler in the 21st century. A renaisance man. Not to mention from Colorado where whitewater is inherently on the gnarlier side of Gnarnia. The boy wants to get after it.

So, let's just cover all the bases here, since Meng is about to drop himself down into a region wide cornicopia of whitewater goodness.

How high are your verticle ambitions? You don't got to answer online- I just asked so you could ask yourself. I mean, how many times do you need to run Metlatko? Don't look at me- I ain't ever runnin that sh*t. I earned my old school stripes more than two decades ago. My Evil Kineavel days are over. I'm just saying that 4 hours ain't far to drive to tap into that and other verticle delicacies like what you'll find on the LW and the Truss. You'll want to sample the Hoody McRio goods before mid july, though. That's a good thing to bracket from as early as you get here till the end of june or maybe early July.

Of course, may and June is also prime Wenatchee Season. You wanna leave Seattle early enough on a friday to hit up some laps on the Fitwah on Snoqualmie pass (or, if your more of a Hwy 2 kind of guy than an I-90 motorist, you coukd hit the Sky, The Foss, The Rapid, and/or the Top Tye, then continue to Leavenworth. Maybe do a No-Moon Midnight lap on the Wenatchee to kick the weekend off. Make sure you hit up the Professor Paddle Ball. Icicle creek will be on tap, and if you have ambitions of running the Stakine, you could toss yourself into Tumwater at 10,000 or more CFS for some very worthy bigwater class V that hardly anyone has huevos to touch. Don't look at me I'm just a 90 lb. Weakling. A little later in Wenatchee season is usually when most PPeeps flock to the Cooper for some laps under the hot Cle Elum Sun.

Then you got BC 4hrs North. Yeah that's right: I'm making a case for Seattle, though either city will do just fine. I mean, choose Portland if you have some California Dream'n going on- but you better get your freshwater ass after that program 'cuz I hear they ain't got much pack down there. We got plenty up here as usual, even if we don't have all that sexy granite. And dude, if you tap out Washington by August or so, you just head across the boarder and get some BC goodies. The gift keeps on giving, and you ain't gonna do more than scratch the tip of that iceburg if you Pilgrimage up there every weekend of August/ September. Never mind the mid to late summer dam releases onthe Chelan Gorge. An easy weekend from Seattle, much further from Portlandia.

It ain't about the cities. Otherwise I'd say Portland. But they are getting just as gentrified and uppitty w/ they pretentious liberal asses as Seattle, so it really don't matter. But its worth noting that without such crucial cities we'd basicly still be living in Civil War times (or at least the 1950's, and judging by the politics our ridiculous nation is serving up some people are still trying to convince us we could live in that decade. Weird). Hah! Bless the progressive gestalt of the Pacific Coast!

Just Come to Seattle dude. Best striking distance from anywhere you could possibly want to kayak, including the San Juan Islands, if you like some occassional salt in your diet.

Edited by jP - 30 Mar 2012 at 9:02pm

Well, Tobin, I doubt the statics would bear out your hypothesis in any measurable way. But if a guy wanted a boursoisie boutique wallflower, I would tell him to set up camp in Fremont. It used to be "the center of the universe". Now the people who live there just think they are the center of the universe. And there's a whole lot more arm pit shavin' goin on. Lets just say that. So who do you think would make a more content companion in the woods?

Cuz all the whitewater is up in thar hillz!

Edited by jP - 30 Mar 2012 at 9:14pm

If you are only here for the summer I would definately pick Portland.

The boating is excellent, the community is great, living expenses are cheaper and there is no place like Portland culture anywhere ("Last Thursday" in Alberta district).

 

That being said, Seattle might have a longer melt run off, but the Gorge has more late season flows... the Truss being the staple for mid to late summer. 

 

Boating aside, Portland has a lot going for it.  Great mico brews (at least 20+ in downtown area) , cheap food, 1 hour to ocean, 1 hour to Hood River, 2.5 hours to Seattle. 

I've lived in both areas and considering the outdoor access and city life, I think it would be an easy pick. 

 

Kirk

Gotta say I'm a little partial to PDX but regardless you can't go wrong in the great PACNW and this thread is so worth it just for JP's analysis.

Chris! What's up man?! Gimme a call either way and let me know when you want to boat.