Question re river outfitters for wildlife viewing

[Giesela1000]

I am thinking of traveling to Washington for a week in early/mid Sept to just......see the nature.  Coastline, beaches, trees, birding, wildlife viewing.   Its pretty hard to figure out an itinerary but I'm working on it. 
I had the thought that maybe a short river trip (not a whitewater thing) with an outfitter might be a good way to see wildlife. 
Have no idea whether this is feasible...do they usually only book groups for fishing?  Do you have to book months ahead? 
Throwing it out there. 
May post a help with itinerary question in a different forum if I can figure out which one. 
I know this is not a true hunting or fishing question but I find that these forums are often great places for advice for any type of wildlife enthusiast. 
Thanks for any replies. 
Gies

[Seatown5]

there is a ton of good stuff on the sauk river.  Really though any of the rivers offer scenic floats that are about four miles.  Might try the skykomish, wenatchee and also i think the Yakima has some potential also.

[gasman]

Send a PM to Little Dave, he is a river guide (or at least he was the last time I talked to hime)

[boneaddict]

Yakima you can drive the whole canyon, and its more intresteing in October when the Sheep start rutting.  The Methow is very beautiful, but then again you can drive it all.  Lots of homes along the river anyway, so the ambience is more for the valley.   If I were to do a float, I think I would look into the Deschutes.   You can have a big float through big country and camp a couple days on the river.   September would be a very pleasant time to do it, though it might be hard to book an outfitter as the stealhead are going pretty strong that time of year.  A very pleasant trip and there isn't a highway right next to you.

[Seatown5]

If i were you i would listen to bone addict.  If ever there was a guy i was going to follow around or listen to it would be him.  Keep kickin ass bone addict

[jackelope]

Yakima you can drive the whole canyon, and its more intresteing in October when the Sheep start rutting.  The Methow is very beautiful, but then again you can drive it all.  Lots of homes along the river anyway, so the ambience is more for the valley.   If I were to do a float, I think I would look into the Deschutes.   You can have a big float through big country and camp a couple days on the river.   September would be a very pleasant time to do it, though it might be hard to book an outfitter as the stealhead are going pretty strong that time of year.  A very pleasant trip and there isn't a highway right next to you.

I did 4 days and 48 miles on the upper Deschutes out of a boat...Warm Springs to Maupin, Oregon. Amazing trip, one that I will never forget with tons fof wildlife. Hells Canyon would be a great trip too...sheep, deer, etc. I hear the Klickitat is a nice float too. The Grande Rhonde is beautiful country if there's enough water. I've floated it twice, late summer early fall and both times had to drag the boat through skinny water(not a big deal to me).
I know a guide on the Deschutes I can put you in touch with, and Mac Huff on the Rhonde is good. They're both fishing guides so I don't know if they'll do scenery or photog trips, especially at that time of year. That's really good steelhead time on both rivers.

[Giesela1000]

Thank you for the replies.  I have never been to the PNW.   I am not fully up on where all the rivers are but I get the impression that most of these are in the east or east ish? 
Perhaps there aren't suitable rivers within a few hours of Seattle? 
I am hoping to come out for about 5 days for the first time.  From reading other
trip reports it seems that Olympic is a good 2 days easy.  Nisqually NWR, Mt. Rainer.....
Washington has a lot to see.
Are there any closer rivers that might do until I can get back and see the east side (and south to Columbia R and NW and......)?

Gies

[jackelope]

I don't know of any rivers that I would float with the pure intention of wildlife viewing within a couple hours of Seattle. If wildlife viewing was looking at some birds or something like that, then you might be ok. Most of the rivers have roads close to them or parallelling them which would make it a lot easier to view wildlife from...
There's a lot more wildlife viewing done from a car than on a river in a boat.
The Olympic Peninsula is a great sightseeing destination...I'd head to the national park for the elk and deer and what-not.
You can drive a couple hours east of seattle to the Yakima River and look for sheep, but as Boneaddict said, thats a lot cooler a month or 2 later when they're rutting. There's still sheep and deer to see and the scenery isn't half bad, especially if you get out of the car and go for a hike.

[dscubame]

Research the Quinalt Lodge on the peninsula in the rainforest.

[Ripper]

A really nice day trip, or over nighter would be to drive North Cascades Highway(20) from Mount Vernon to Winthrop. It's an absolute beautiful drive along the Skagit River. You'll see Bald Eagles, possibly deer, and if your lucky like I was Saturday, you'll see a herd of Elk. There is a large field along the way that the Nooksak herd feeds in regularly. Winthrop is a neat Old West town. If you want more info on the drive, PM me and I'll tell you more about it.  Mark

[Giesela1000]

20 looks amazing but I would have to do that instead of Ranier I think. 

My wildlife list would start with River Otters, then American Pine Marten, Fisher, mink, weasel.  None you can predict at all but at least with River Otters you know they are around water:)
I did find a tour on the Nisqually(sp?).  Not sure if it would be worth it or not...is that river and area pretty crowded?  I will be stopping at the NWR for birdwatching. 

Thanks for the rec on the Lodge.  Everyone seems to have their own favorite and I have to choose where to stop in the Olympic NWR.  Physical issues limit hiking right now.

[jackelope]

I think you're going to have a hard time seeing any of those around here....not very common at all.

[gasman]

You would have a better chance of seeing most those animals listed around Mt Rainier, with teh exception of a river otter, they are very hard to find and I only come across them by accident 

Rainier is a good bet. Spend a day or two driving around the MT. camping, visiting the different visitor centers and hikeing some of the trails 

[Giesela1000]

All those rivers and no River Otters?  Say it isn't so! 

Hopefully the Fisher will take off
http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/fisher-reintroduction.htm

Beautiful river pics btw, really jealous

[runamuk]

Couple thoughts for you....coastline drives you can drive the skagit valley and chuckanut very good chance of seeing bald eagles among other birds.  Wrong time of the year for the skagit river for eagles nestingand really that is about the only true river wildlife float I could think of off the top of my head that isnt more geared toward fishing or white water rafting...  The Olympic Penninsula driving the hood canal lots of scenery and birding and then of course you can go to the park and look for elk and see rainforest.  An alternative would be drive down hwy 101 viewing the pacific beaches coastline to Astoria then make a run up the gorge taking in that scenery as well. 

[jackelope]

All those rivers and no River Otters?  Say it isn't so! 

Hopefully the Fisher will take off
http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/fisher-reintroduction.htm

Beautiful river pics btw, really jealous

I've seen river otters on the Grand Rhonde. I know they exist on other eastside rivers and maybe over on the peninsula. Not sure. Not anywhere near Seattle though.
Runamuk's right about the eagles on the Skagit. Later in the winter once the chum salmon are in the river, river guides will float just to sightsee the eagles.

[FC]

Not sure. Not anywhere near Seattle though.

I saw some pretty recently right out of Shilshole. 

[boneaddict]

Tough list of critters to spot in 5 days.   Two are feasible but not with any predictability.   The others like the Fisher are once in a lifetime critter.  I'd bet 99% of the members on this site have never seen one.  Probably 50% don't even know what one is.   More might know what a Martin is but doubt that 1% on here has seen one outside of NW trek.   A great place to view animals by the way, but still zoolike.  Otters are hit and miss as are weasels and mink.   

[GoldTip]

Tough list of critters to spot in 5 days.   Two are feasible but not with any predictability.   The others like the Fisher are once in a lifetime critter.  I'd bet 99% of the members on this site have never seen one.  Probably 50% don't even know what one is.   More might know what a Martin is but doubt that 1% on here has seen one outside of NW trek.   A great place to view animals by the way, but still zoolike.  Otters are hit and miss as are weasels and mink.

I would agree with Bone, coming west with any intent of seeing any of those critters within a 5 days period is a tall order.  The Fisher I would think your best bet would be in the far NE corner of the state, and extremely little chance you'll see one then.  I've never seen one in WA.  The river otter, even that's a maybe in a 5d period unless someone on here knows where a family of them lives.  Pine marten are much easier to find in Winter, usually weasels seem the same to me as well.  You've got a cool list of animals you want to see, but most are seen as happenstance as opposed to going looking for them. 

[quadrafire]

I have seen several otters in the Wenatchee river at Leavenworth, just off the golf course. May be dependent on fish runs, This would have been in Dec, Jan when I saw them. That would be a good sightseeing trip if you are driving over Stevens pass to the east side. Do the chicken dance in Leavenworth (a bavarian village styled town), and see the sights along the wenatchee river in tumwater canyon (driving), and the icicle river just outside of town.

[Ripper]

I have seen river otters on the Snohomish river a few times. I saw a family of five while walking along the river in Feb. Still, it's not something you see with any regularity. You are right about all the opinions on here, everyone has their own favorite places. If you don't mind skipping Rainier this trip, then I'd do the hwy 20 drive I mentioned earlier. Stay the night in Winthrop then get up and drive around to Leavenworth like someone else mentioned. A very neat Bavarian village. Stay the night then from there take Hwy 97 through Blewit Pass to Ellensburg. Jump on 84 and drive all the way to Oregon and stay the night. Then head West on I forget the Hwy to Portland and back to Seattle. That will give you a great overview of what this area is like. Lush green west side, Dry arid East side. You'll be along rivers most of the way, so wildlife viewing will be optimal.

[fish vacuum]

A lot of guides offer eagle watching trips on the rivers north of Seattle. Eagle numbers are highest in the winter months but there are plenty of resident birds around. If you want to pay them money to just float down the river, I'm sure most would be happy to do it any time.
One guide has recently started "eco tours" which might fit what you're looking for.
http://www.flyfishsteelhead.com/tours/eco-tour.htm

[Giesela1000]

Yea, I throw my mammal list out there knowing its all but practically impossible.  But you never know right?  That's why I also birdwatch.  Well anything and all nature really.  Those are just on the top of my wish list.
More good inputs.  Don't know how I'm going to sort out all my choices.  Wish I could retire and spend more time. 
I'm going to have to map out some of this. 
Thanks!

[eggster]

been seeing on average 15 deer on the cowlitz in the morning.also see beavers,otters,eagles,and even a bear.its about a 2 hour drive south of seattle.

[Giesela1000]

Thanks for chiming in eggster, that's quite the tip!  I don't have the best map, it looks like the Cowlitz starts around Mayfield Lake on hwy 12 and runs a little ways west and than turns and pretty much follows the highway 5 down to the Columbia...is that right? 
Any suggestions on which area or stops might be good? 

Also, is there a fav entrance to Mt Ranier and hotel reccomendations? 

[Deer slayer]

I recommend the Klickitat River. Look up Klickitat River Guides and ask for leidle to slide out trip. It has amazing scenery.

[Giesela1000]

I recommend the Klickitat River. Look up Klickitat River Guides and ask for leidle to slide out trip. It has amazing scenery.

Its just too far out of the way for this trip.

[JimmyHoffa]

20 looks amazing but I would have to do that instead of Ranier I think. 

My wildlife list would start with River Otters, then American Pine Marten, Fisher, mink, weasel.  None you can predict at all but at least with River Otters you know they are around water:)
I did find a tour on the Nisqually(sp?).  Not sure if it would be worth it or not...is that river and area pretty crowded?  I will be stopping at the NWR for birdwatching. 

Thanks for the rec on the Lodge.  Everyone seems to have their own favorite and I have to choose where to stop in the Olympic NWR.  Physical issues limit hiking right now.

River otters--behind the salmon hatchery on the Sol Duc River.  Or along the Hoh River behind cottonwood campground off Oil City Road.  Can get a boat ride from a fishing guide through either of these areas.
Pine Marten--Marmot Pass in the Buchkhorn Wilderness.  Requires a lot of hiking though.
Fishers--http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/fisher/updates.html

[Giesela1000]

Thank you so much for the otter tips.  I did some reading on Buckhorn and I'm probably not up to the task but I may take a drive to a trailhead just for the experience.