PORT ANGELES — After 20 years at the helm of Olympic Raft & Kayak, Dave King is handing the paddle to a new owner.
Morgan Colonel, a 27-year-old outdoorsman from Jackson Hole, Wyo., has agreed to purchase the popular guide service and retail store at 123 Lake Aldwell Road.
“I’m ready to try other things,” King said in a Friday interview. “I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet, although I do have the fifth-wheel mostly packed.
“I think my first stop is to go down and catch the [Seattle] Mariners games in spring training.”
Olympic Raft & Kayak will continue to offer guided raft trips down the Elwha River between what is left of the Glines Canyon and Elwha River dams as a concessionaire for Olympic National Park.
“We do guided tours, we do the rentals, we do retail,” King said. “We’ve got roof racks that fit pretty much every car.”
King, who is keeping his retirement options open, said it was a difficult decision to step down.
“I met lot of wonderful people in this town, for sure,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to go, but I think it’s time.”
Colonel (pronounced “kernel”) grew up in American Falls, Idaho, a small town of about 5,000 just outside of Pocatello.
He spent five years as a full-time guide on the upper Snake River and managed the Wyoming company for the past two years.
“I’m just really excited to be here, real excited to kind of jump in and be a part of the community,” Colonel said.
Colonel plans to pick up where King left off at Olympic Raft & Kayak and possibly expand the operation in coming years.
The company runs the annual Port Angeles Kayak Symposium — a successful spring event held at Hollywood Beach and the Port Angeles Red Lion Hotel — and teaches introductory kayaking courses at Peninsula College.
Last summer, King delegated some of the responsibilities of the kayak symposium, which he founded, to his friend and business supplier, Bill Walker of Oak Harbor.
“It’s been an excellent 20 years,” King said. “It’s been a real learning experience growing the business and getting it from pretty much just a couple dilapidated rafts and a dozen life jackets to where it’s at now.”
King moved to the North Olympic Peninsula in 1989 and purchased Olympic Raft & Kayak in 1991.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m definitely looking forward to Morgan coming in.”
“When I took over the business, I was about his age. I had a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm, and I see that in Morgan,” he said. “I’m looking forward to him taking the reins and continue to grow [the business] like I was able to.”
When he decided he was ready for a change, King sent a mass email to river guides across the country in April announcing his intention to sell Olympic Raft & Kayak.
“I saw that and didn’t think much of it,” Colonel said. “I didn’t think I was going to leave Jackson Hole, ever.”
But after a month of soul searching and discussions with his business partner and cousin, Colonel decided to test the Peninsula waters in a three-day visit last August.
“I just pretty much fell in love with the place,” said Colonel, a bachelor and new dog owner. “So it started rolling downhill from there. And here we are, hopefully closing [the sale] in the next hour.”
Colonel said he was drawn to the area because of the ocean, the scenery and the chance to “do my own thing.”
“I think home is where you make it, and this is pretty easy to make a home when you’ve got a beautiful area like that.”
Colonel’s arrival coincides with the largest dam removal project of its kind in U.S. history. He said the main thing people will notice is sediment forming islands in the river channel.
“I look forward to getting people on the water,” Colonel said.
“The best way to see the park, in my opinion, is on the water.”
King, who knows the lower Elwha River as well as anyone, said the removal of the 108-foot Elwha River Dam and 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam won’t change the flows.
“A lot of people have the misconception that with the dams coming out, it’s going to change the flow somehow, but it really doesn’t,” King said. “Whatever is coming down the river is coming down the river.”
For more information about Olympic Raft & Kayak, phone 360-452-1443 or visit www.raftandkayak.com.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
