Seattle's working waters

The dark metal gates slowly swung open and the lockmaster looked down at us and said, "Are you experienced paddlers?" We replied in the affirmative and he said, "OK, go ahead, you've got a three-knot current, paddle hard!"

Paddles dipped, flashed and dripped and,in a few seconds,we slipped back into the gentle flow of Salmon Bay, kayaking back through the gritty maritime soul of Seattle, past rubber-ringed tugboats, freshly painted purse seiners, derelict schooners, graceful sailboats and opulent yachts.

Visitors standing on the platform above, and even other boaters, were amazed that we were kayaking through the Ballard Locks. These are the portals between the fresh and salt waters surrounding Seattle, the link between Lakes Washington and Union and Puget Sound, and one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

As we waited to enter the small lock on our return trip, a lady on a sailboat that had just passed through looked at us quizzically and asked, "You're kayaking through the locks?"

Indeed we were. In fact, plenty of paddlers do. The locks are a link on the Lakes-to-Locks Water Trail, designated in 2000 and awarded the National Park Service Partnership Award in 2002. Kayaking through them is a quintessentially Seattle endeavor.

"Just going through the locks was an interesting experience, because we had walked there before and seen it, but had never gone through on the water," says Ed Matkovick, my friend and fellow paddler.

We were lucky to do this paddle on a cold but beautiful sunny day between late-fall storms. Starting on Lake Union, we cruised through the Ship Canal -- the water route between the Aurora and Ballard bridges -- and Salmon Bay and through the locks to Shilshole for lunch, then back. We had planned to kayak a bit farther, to Golden Gardens Park for lunch, but cut the trip short because of small craft warnings on the Sound.

Like any kayak trip, this one presents serious safety issues, such as weather, tides, and here especially, busy boat traffic. Paddlers do this trip year-round, but going in the off-season reduces the amount of boat traffic you'll have to deal with in these sometimes narrow waterways. Lake Union, the canal, Salmon Bay, the locks -- these are working waters.

But that's also one of the charms of this paddle trip.

"I think its appeal is in the cultural resources that are there," says Sarah Krueger, outreach director for the Washington Water Trails Association, who is working on a paddler's map of Lake Union's access and historic sites. "You're seeing ships and dry docks. It's the textures and colors, the rusting barges and colorful boats."

This is nothing like paddling the San Juan Islands or the outer coast. This is like paddling the working heart of a city whose lifeblood is water.

"It was cool to see all the boats and people working on ships, and the tugboats pushing around ships," says my sister, Jennifer Johnston, another seasoned paddler. "What was so interesting was seeing all the different kinds of ships."

But you do have to pay attention. We had to slow down and watch a few times to discern the direction of the shipping traffic and determine our best course around it. While passing the Foss Maritime yard on the canal, a medium tug tied up to a smaller tug passed on our port side and, while we were paying attention to that pair, a huge Foss tug came up behind us headed for its mooring.

The captain leaned out from the bridge and matter-of-factly let us know where he was headed.

"You really have to be aware not only of what is ahead, but also what's behind you," says Reed Waite, WWTA director, who led our trip. "Things happen quickly, even though the speed limit in the canal is 7 knots."

It's also important to remember that while you are paddling for pleasure, many of the craft around you are working boats.

"You're there to relax and enjoy and learn, so it's better sometimes to pull back and observe and try to figure out what's going on," Waite says. "These people are working, trying to get something done. You don't want to get in their way."

As always, you need to check the weather forecast, and be aware that some of the ships -- tugs and barges especially -- throw out a pretty big wake that can create refractory waves bouncing off the hulls of moored ships and sometimes the concrete walls of the Ship Canal.

If you're going to paddle through the locks, officially called the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, you also need to pay attention to the lock workers. There are two locks, and kayaks are allowed only in the smaller one. When approaching, kayakers are asked to wait on the south side of the canal for instruction. We found the lock workers to be efficient, to the point and courteous -- in other words, highly professional.

When the small lock was clear and open and they were ready for us, a voice on a loudspeaker instructed us to enter. Larger craft are directed to tie up to the cleats, or "buttons," on the sidewall of the lock, which rises and falls with the water level. But kayakers are instructed to simply grab a cleat and hold on.

On your way out to sea, gravity drains water out of the lock until the level is equal to that of the lower saltwater side. Then the gates swing open and a gentle flow boosts you out.

On the way back to freshwater, gravity fills the lock with water until the level rises to the freshwater side. Then the gates swing open and you must paddle against a bit of current as water rushes into the locks.

However, as we continued the return trip, we noticed that we were paddling against fairly consistent current.

"That is the entire flow of the Lake Washington watershed, both the Cedar and Sammamish rivers," notes Waite. "It's just 40 miles upstream to the Cascades."

The first people here knew that. In fact, they established historic precedence for paddling these waters, using canoes to move between camps, to fish and hunt and get wherever they needed to go. Portage Bay, for example, now connects Lake Union to Lake Washington and was named for the spot where natives and early settlers once had to beach and carry or slide their canoes over a stretch of marshy land between the two.

Krueger says the map she and the WWTA are creating of Lake Union is as much a guide to the cultural history of the lake as it is to current paddling opportunities.

"More than anything, it is to create an understanding of how the lake has been used over time," she says. "There were hunting villages here, and then it became an industrial area. The founding fathers of Seattle called it Lake Union, and they foresaw that there would be a connection between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. Now it's the heart of Seattle, a place where people want to work, live and recreate."

Portage became unnecessary in 1917, after a channel had been cut between the lakes, the Ship Canal was built and the locks opened to traffic. Today, Lake Union is undergoing perhaps its biggest change since that time. The area is burgeoning with new housing, offices and businesses, a new transit system, a new park, and plans for a six-mile loop trail circling it.

Krueger says the map is a joint effort by the Center for Wooden Boats, which is adjacent to the new Lake Union Park, and the Lake Union Rotary Club, and funded through a city of Seattle neighborhood grant. She notes that a recent survey of kayakers by a graduate student and WWTA member, as well as a state survey of boaters at large, indicate the No. 1 concern of both types of boaters is access to the water.

As Lake Union development continues, access to the water could become even more challenging. Krueger notes that although Lake Union Park is not complete, it already has a low float where kayakers can launch. The Center for Wooden Boats also recently installed a kayak rack and a low float to encourage paddlers to pull out and check out its exhibits.

The Northwest Outdoor Center on Lake Union, a paddling company, also allows kayakers to launch from its docks, although parking there can be an issue.

Although we saw no other paddlers go through the locks, over the course of our trip we did pass about a dozen other kayakers. And despite their working nature, these waterways are not devoid of nature. We saw a variety of waterfowl, including goldeneye, ring-necked and mallard ducks, Canada geese, cormorants, grebes, and on the saltwater side, seals.

The map should be finished and printed sometime this month, and will be available from the WWTA, the Center for Wooden Boats and at Lake Union Park.

You'll be able to use it to find a spot to launch your kayak and then paddle the lakes, the Ship Canal, the locks and, ultimately, wherever you might want to go -- Golden Gardens, Puget Sound, the San Juans, even Alaska.

IF YOU GO

* Learn more about the Lakes-to-Locks Water Trail at the Washington Water Trails Association Web site, wwta.org. The site also offers details on the WWTA's Feb. 2-3 Sea Kayak and Canoe Winter Seminar at the Mercer View Community Center. You also can call the association at 206-545-9161.

* Northwest Outdoor Center, a paddling rental, guide and retail company on Lake Union, has informative pages on kayaking lakes Union and Washington, with maps, trip suggestions and details. See nwoc.com. The phone number is 206-281-9694 or 800-683-0637.

* Before any trip between Lake Union and Puget Sound, be sure to thoroughly read the Web pages of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on navigating the locks at goto.seattlepi.com/r888. You also should call the lockmaster to check for updates on conditions and lock operations, 206-783-7000.

P-I reporter Greg Johnston can be reached at 206-448-8014 or gregjohnston@seattlepi.com.

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