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I am a little in shock to see how long it has been since my last posting. Once the cabin passed inspection, updates to the blog did not seem as pertinent. Anyway, I will try to catch things up with this posting.
Knock on wood, we have not had any more major flooding at the cabin. We did lose a little bit more of our property, maybe five feet or so. It took the small vine maple tree that was on the edge of the property as well as the tree that we used to tie a rope to for assisting us in getting up and down the bank. It also took the lights and the few posts we had along the bank to warn people of the edge at night. Luckily we had not put up the split rail fence we had been proposing or that too would have gone down river. Most of our rock wall is now gone also. Our opinion has changed as to what we might do to prevent more damage. None of the property owners East of us have a structure on their property, so they are not willing to invest in flood prevention, thus making us the first property that would have to spend some major money to "try" to prevent further damage. The river is coming straight at the property a few lots East of us and will keep cutting into their bank and would eventually go behind anything we could do on our property. It does not make much sense to make a major investment only to have it wiped out. As I have stated before, our cabin is far enough back from the river that we should not have to worry about it reaching the cabin. One thing that happened in the big storm in late 2015 is that it appears the major channel of the river is now going down the other side of the island in front of us. We are hoping that the major portion of the river will continue on that route in the future.
In the above picture you can see where the river is split and coming down hitting the properties East of us. What you cannot see is that there is another larger arterial of the river that is going behind the trees on the island in front of us. That group of trees on the left of the river above are on that island and the river is running behind it.
This is a close-up of the area in the first photo that shows the end of the island. It appears that the river is zigzagging down the canyon, but in reality it is splitting with the major portion of the river going straight and not down this arterial at the bottom that is headed towards the properties East of us.
We are hoping that the river has dug a deep enough channel on the other side of that island and it will take most of the water when there is a flood. Time will tell.
We have had many guests up to the cabin since the last post. There have been two Index Arts Festivals in that time period. They are always a lot of fun to attend. This year we tried something different. The Festival has always had music and dancing later at night when all the food and craft booths are gone. We could hear the music coming up the river and it always sounded good, so this year we decided to venture back into town to experience the festivities. It was really a lot of fun. The music was very good and the crowd was quite large with many people dancing on the large lot in front of the stage. It is definitely something we will look forward to in the future.
We like those large 22 ounce beers available at the Outdoor Adventures Center in Index and the nice area along the river to enjoy them. Left to right is Rick B., Mike E., myself, Steve C. and Skip I.
Dan G. and Stella with Bob G. in back
This weekend we had three dogs staying with us at the cabin and another dog visiting. Luckily they all got along okay although my young black Labrador was a little too active for the two smaller dogs.
Unfortunately, we were suffering from a very long dry spell and we could not have a fire at night. Also, the air was filled with smoke coming down from fires in British Columbia. It blocked a lot of the view of the mountains, but also provided some interesting photo-ops. This photo was taken as the sun rose over the mountains and reflected in the river below us. Note the amount of water coming our way compared to the very first photo in this post. There was barely a trickle, but at least it was enough to stop the swimming hole from becoming stagnant.
Another photo-op...this one is of the morning sun giving a tree by the fire pit a mottled look.
In July we had another gathering when our friends, Mike and Ronnie, visited us from Sweden. It was another fun time.
Once again, those 22 ounce beers were a hit.
From left to right is Steve C., Ronnie L., Mike O., Craig A. and Jim M.
Back at the cabin Craig provided some bubbles. They were the most colorful bubbles I have ever seen. There were some really large ones too.
At first I thought we had a frog...turned out to just be a leaf.
We have a new sleeper couch and need to get rid of this old, but very comfortable leather couch. In the meantime, my puppy seems quite content with it. The red eye adjustment does not seem to work for dogs...ha.
We have a new 12 foot x 14 foot gazebo that we will be putting up near the fire pit and we had to clean and level the area. This stump had the longest roots and it took quite some time to get it moved.
Then, we had this large rock...about the size of a VW. It was determined we would never get it moved so the soil was dug out underneath of it and the top was pushed down. The area will be covered with gravel, so it can now easily be leveled.
One never gets tired of the view of the mountains upriver.
On the beach across from us, someone made a tribute out of rocks. When I first looked at it I thought the initials were MJ...my initials for Michael James, but alas, I was wrong...sob.
This vine maple once adorned the bank of our property.
Well, it still does...just from another position.
The foxgloves on the beach across from us put on quite a spectacular show this year.
Tom's Thumb looking majestic. This is another mountain seen upriver. We keep trying to determine if more of the rock is falling off. Anyone want to explore?
The river rocks are always interesting. How did the marbled one come into existence? It looks like someone did an art project.
Looking West from our property is an upright stump that used to be situated East of us and protected us from the rushing waters headed our way. Unfortunately it fell victim to that rushing water and can no longer protect us.
Close-up of the stump
You can see how the river is washing into the bank. This is looking down at our property from upriver. At the far end you can see the upright tree stump that is in front of our neighbor's property downstream from us (as seen in the previous photo).
In early May, the moss covered branches look beautiful against all the new growth appearing.
Also appearing was this black bear. I was taking my dog for a walk when we encountered him. This was shot with a telephoto lens, so he was not that close to us. My dog was off leash and luckily did not see the bear as I am sure he would have rushed up to it wanting to play. Once the bear saw us, he headed into the forest...phew!
November of 2016
This was a picture taken in November 2016 showing the stump that now appears in front of our neighbor's house. The stump was part of the bank below the abandoned home that fell into the river in 2015. Its roots were securely attached to the bank.
Looking down river towards our property. You can get a better idea of the bank that is eroding East of us and keeps cutting further and further inward.
September of 2016
Steve and I had been imbibing a few drinks one night in September and the sunset and the clouds kept giving us new delights every few minutes. Both of us took so many photos. We laughed about it the next morning, but we did get some good shots.
Another of the photos from that night.
Steve and I, along with my 4 month old puppy, Maxx, took a hike up the new trail on Heybrook Ridge. It is a wonderful trail along some very interesting landscape...such as this rock wall.
Looking through the trees you can see the town of Index below.
Looking Southwest from the top of the Heybrook Ridge trail. Mt. Baring is on the left.
Looking over at Mt. Index with Bridal Veil Falls below the clouds.
My 4 month old black Labrador retriever, Maxx had a great hike. It was his first time of being off-leash and he stayed by us the whole time. He would run up the trail ahead of us, but would never get out of sight, then come charging back down to us, lay down, then go charging back up ahead of us. I thought for sure I was going to have to carry him back down the mountain, but he made the trip. He really was exhausted that night however.
Steve C. and Maxx along the trail below another rock wall.
August of 2016
Once again we attended the Index Arts Festival...as did this man and his goat.
Myself, Craig A. and Jim M. on the Index bridge
This was my black Labrador, Maxx, and his first time in the river
at age 3 months. He did not particularly like his first time.
We were able to have a campfire. Steve C. stoking the fire
has the attention of everyone around the fire.
From left to right, Robert W., Bob G., Doug F., Jim M., and Dan G.
Another campfire with the following from left to right, Kyle,
Scott E., Joe R., Doug F., Jim M. and Dan G.
Dan G., Bob G., Joe R. and Robert W.
Jim M. and Scott E.
Barry S. and Steve C.
My friends, Joyce and Phil from No. Hollywood, CA
spent a few days with me later in the month.
While they were here I got to share one of our
little eight-legged friends.
July of 2016
When we go for a walk into town or up the main road,
we usually take a bag along to pick up the trash.
Doug took this photo of me...as a matter of fact,
it is usually Doug who grabs the camera to make
sure I am included in the photos. Thanks Doug!
On the back route into town, this wooden
moose sculpture guards the path.
This looks like a sculpture...well it is...a sculpture by nature.
The rocks on top of the soil keep the soil from washing away,
forming these towers.
This is the root system of a tree in the river bed East of our
property. You can see how big it is compared to Doug and
you can imagine the damage it could do when floating down
a river in swift water...much like happened to our rock wall.
Looking up river from the island across from our property.
Looking at our property from the island across from us.
It is hard to believe that we once had a rock wall along the whole bank!
Currently, this is where the main part of the river is located...
on the other side of the island in front of us.
Doug F. and Steve C. getting hints from Bob G. on the
best route across the river.
The remnants of the abandoned cabin that fell into the river East
of us along with the huge stump that is now to the West of us
and in front of the neighbor's house.
We met Maxx's brother over the 4th of July weekend while
we were up at Index. His owner gave me the information on
who to contact to see if they had any puppies left.
Luckily there was one...the perfect one.
May of 2016
On the Memorial Day weekend, you can never count on good
weather and this year was no exception.
That did not stop us from enjoying a campfire.
Robert W. and Luke trying to stay dry.
Doug F. and Bob G. with their bumbershoots.
This is the tree that used to stand at the edge of our bank.
We had a rope tied around it that we used to navigate up and
down to get to and from the river. It was lost during one
of the winter storms and spent the summer of 2016 in the river
below us. It was carried down river during the high waters
of the winter of 2016-2017.
Mike U. and Luke during one of the dry spells during the weekend.
The branching out of a horsetail.
The branching out of a Douglas fir
The moss covered trees leading into the woods at the old Triangle Campground.
Doug being a strong man...holding up boulders.
December of 2015
Steve C. looking at the tree we used to navigate our way
to and from the river below...for the last time.
It went in the river shortly after this photo.
I have left out a lot of what transpired from the last posting, but hope you get an idea of what life is like at The Drunken Bear. After all that work building the cabin, we are now enjoying the fruits of our labor. Once again, I thank the man who made this all possible and wish he was here to enjoy what he envisioned. RIP Roger!
