Comments

1
did the water taste like poo?
2
Jesus Matt, you're stupid than I thought. You swam in some Superfund water. Did you have to sign a waiver before you got in?

Also, I imagine you'd look like this after getting in that water: http://www.milesteves.com/gallery/d/443-3/…
3
Clearly this is the most important story in Portland today. Top notch reporting.
4
Nice to see that Blogtown is now Matt's personal diary.
5
Silly Miquealron the water only has full on poo in it when it rains, (it's called runoff though, or combined sewer overflow, not poo) in the dry summer it has pulp and paper byproducts, and other industrial type stuff...
6
I don't even like to let my dog swim in that water...
7
Hi Matt Congratulations for swimming one mile through a super fund clean up site. Did you know the currents in the Willamette are constantly changing? They are strongly affected by tidal currents and sometimes in the summer the Willamette flows up stream through Portland?

I don't think writing an article about it after the fact will qualify you for workers compensation when you come down with cancer. At least you have another 10 - 30 years before you come down with symptoms and are denied medical benefits.
8
Sounds scary. I can imagine how you felt during the adventure. Like it was one giant mistake.
9
Good job, you didn't die, you're not gonna get cancer and you got a least a years worth of good cocktail chatter out of it. Go to the Y take a schwitz and forget about it.
10
The Superfund sites are further downstream.
11
High levels of vitriol in the Blogtown waters today. Isn't it Friday?
12
New media is all about radical transparency.

I learned that on the San Francisco innerwebs.

13
I hope you've learned your lesson. Activities like this where you push yourself to return to the same spot you started are extremely stupid and dangerous. Those who do them are twisted addicts, looking for another hit of endorphins from their body. Ironically it is less dangerous and expensive, not to mention more enjoyable, to use drugs purchased from a street dealer.

It is only alright to swim long distances if, say, you are fleeing to a place of refuge while being pursued by kahunas for breaking kapu. Running long distances is only okay if you are being chased by something that wants to hurt you or some other exigency. Bicycling is fine as long as you're trying to get somewhere. To do these things in a repetitive fashion definitely causes a myriad of cancers, not to mention making one a complete douche.

Don't be sucked in by these people. They are self-indulgent masochists who live only to push themselves beyond artificially constructed limits and then reflect on their own awesomeness over energy drinks. The only thing they love more than suffering and getting their cheap, degraded highs are luring the unsuspecting into their ranks to add to the collective misery. You're lucky to have realized the depravity involved and to have rejected it, before it was too late.
14
That was a great article! Enjoyed reading it.
15
styrofoamcup is my new favorite commenter. They get a coupon for one free internet.
16
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Superfund site is from River Mile 8 to River Mile 2, which is from the northern tip of Swan Island to about a mile upstream from Kelly Point Park--miles away from where Mr. Davis swam. The Willamette, while not perfect, is certainly cleaner now than it was 20 years ago. I've never understood why people just automatically think it's dangerously toxic.
17
styrofoamcup your description of "these" people rings true w/many great writers, Krakauer, Thompson, London, etc.

If the timing is right, and Matt is in the right place at the right time, and can produce a book (which he will) I believe he will be added to the list...
18
Matt, that was some bold shit my man. The Willy is one nasty-assed drink of wrong sauce to anyone brave enough to enter. The story was great and it allowed me to read the awesome words of styrofoamcup.

Finally, someone has articulated what I've long felt about these sick, perverse individuals. Thank you Matt Davis. Thank you styrofoamcup.
19
Alright! I hereby demand all interneters cease and desist any and all malicious or otherwise untrue defamations about the Willamette River. That river is great, especially for swimming.
20
God, I bet you were dying for some pie after this. I know I would have been.
21
Hey Matt. I raced in the first Portland Triathlon and the wetsuit REALLY helps. Also, the current in the willamette usually isn't that strong. Maybe there was an unusually strong current that day? Well, I think it's awesome that you are doing this...DON'T GIVE UP YET!
22
1 - that section of the river is not the superfund site but that does not make it clean.

2 - exposure to the river in a one hour session is relatively unlikely to have lasting health effects. i would not worry about it.

3 - i would have turned back in the first 5 feet. at least you can say you did it.
23
A fitting epitaph, had you not survived, or should you pass during a future attempt:

"He ate shit and died."
24
I swim the Willamette every chance I get. It's clear and clean upstream form Sellwood (and the sewage overflow pipes). Thank good for stories like yours, it keep all the river-haters out of the water. Ask Mirk about Elk Rock Island, it's super swimmable there.
25
I'm working out of town, but this blog and its attendant comments are like a breath of Portland relatively-fresh air. The diversity of opinion, as well as the diversity of intgelligence (Of course, where is there to go but up when the first comment has the word "poo" in it?!?) is what keeps me coming back. Keep Portland Weird? No effing problem, m'man!

Oh yeah, the Willamette sucks a big bone. Props to Crazy Matt for triumphing over millions of years of that trboublesome thing we call Survival Instinct!

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