The Drunken Bear

Steve and I left Seattle around 9:30 a.m., on November 16th, headed for the cabin to get our washer and dryer delivered and installed.  We stopped at Safeway in Monroe to pick up a pizza for dinner.  We had planned on stopping by Costco in Woodinville, but forgot to take the exit.  We got to Sultan about 10:50 a.m. and decided to stop for breakfast at the Sultan Café.  As we were driving down Skyko Drive, we noticed that the trailer that was on the edge of the bank was no longer there and as we passed by Trish’s, our neighbor to the East of us, I noticed the deck on their property looked somewhat different, but I did not give it a second thought.  It was raining and we quickly unloaded Steve’s car.  We went to the river to see if we could see the trailer and as we approached the edge, we saw that the tree that had leaned out over the river was no longer there and that Trish’s deck was askew.  The river was up right against our rocks and it was mov...

As with the rest of the world, summers in Washington state are recording warmer temperatures.  After the last entry on this blog, the Pacific Northwest began drying up.  It was nice for those that like the higher temperatures, but for the rest of us it sucked.  And as with most things, there is the good and the bad.  The good was that with the low water levels we were able to enjoy the river quite often.  Nothing like a fresh dip in the mountain fed river on a hot day.  The bad was that the forests were really dry and ripe for fires, so campfires were not allowed.  We had our last campfire in June and did not have another one until late in September.  We really missed those nightly campfires when we had friends visit.  The drought also affected the plants.  Our wild huckleberry bushes did not produce the proliferation of berries that we are accustomed to. When the river is low, some of the larger rocks really stick out. ...

The storm we had in the last entry was the worst storm we had all winter!  Since then, it has been unusually dry.  And it seems to be getting even worse!  I was up to Index last week and the river is the lowest I have ever seen it...even at the end of summer.  It has been great to have the nice weather, but we are paying for it now.  The forests are really dry making the trees more susceptible to bug infestation...creating an even bigger problem.  The low rivers are causing havoc with the fish population.  Many fish are getting caught in small pools that are left when the rivers start shrinking, with nowhere to go.  Surprisingly, we are not on water rationing...but then again I may be speaking too early.  We are having people up over the 4th of July and it will be quite different from previous years.   It is hard to believe this is a river that has swallowed up houses. Over the Memorial Day weekend, Bob and Doug joined me ...