Well, about 5 hours of TM today. i was somewhat prepared with my loppers and bow saw.
parked on the cul-de-sac near the concrete bridge. threw on the chest waders, and headed in.
some resourceful person made a bridge from the shore to the concrete deck with a 2x8. wedged in place with a couple
logs. Water was flowing over the bridge, but things did not seem right. Anyway, first task was to clear the trees
across the bridge. there were three connected to a stump, and a couple pinned under it.
about an hour of sawing, and all set.
jumped in the water upstream of the bridge, and dislodged all the stuff that was stuck in the pipes.
the picture shows that the downstream water is just below the rim of the bridge. there is debri stuck just downstream of the bridge also.
it is too deep to get to.
here is where it gets interesting. say you want to take your phone for pictures, and just in case something short of drowning happens.
you'd thing to yourself, gee - i should put it in a zip-lock bag. seems i forgot that part. there is a small leak in the waders and my
pants are getting wet. it isn't uncomfortable. but the pants are soaking up the water.
anyway, i've done all i can do here. so i decide to take a walk downstream to experience this beaver.
Funny, I hear a waterfall in the distance. it gets louder. and there it is. The 6MR falls. It isn't a beaver dam
at all, just a tree that had a few years to collect sticks, leaves, mud, a rubber duck, coffee mug, vodka bottle,
the skinny that was up near the old foundation that disappeared, and a variety of other items.
it was at least 18" of water being held up. and yeah, that is poison ivy growing over the top of it.
So the only thing i can think about is
@capedoc reading the riot act about downed trees with moving water and how dangerous they can be.
With chest waders on, if i go down, its over. So be conservative.
Clipped the poison ivy off the tree - so it wouldn't keep poking me. i'm not sensitive to it, so no big deal. started on the near shore, and
cleared out under the tree. its amazing how small the branches were. eventually, there was a decent flow. the deeper into the water, the more significant the size of the logs.
worked my way across the tree. plenty of stuff to stand on. and plenty of hand holds. every move was measured. about 3 hours later, i look
up and there is a fat-biker looking at me. black salsa/bluto - was just finishing up, so went to say hello - he offered to help, but i was toast.
Since i'm terrible with names, i think he said Chris. Asked about riding conditions, and he said good. not much mud on the bike, so yeah, looks good! dry under the cedars.
Anyway, i'm happy with the results. threw many branches to the shore, but let so much stuff go downstream - so might have relocated the problem.
here is the new look... the water was going over that short section on the right....this is from upstream.
somewhere during this, i bumped my bow saw into the fast moving water. Bye-bye!
went back on the trail side so had to cross the concrete bridge again. Progress - but now i can see all the stuff stuck just downstream.
so spent some more time clearing that away hoping to keep anything else from getting hung up there. also pulled a few more logs
out of the pipes from the downstream side. Wanted to get a final pic, but remember the water soaking into my pants - well,
capillary effect. phone got wet, and went into an infinite reboot loop.
got home, plugged phone into charger, cause ya never know. i'm wet, and a bit chilled, so run upstairs to take a warm shower.
no hot water. go downstairs, the unit starts, but won't stay on. finally get it to stay for 2 minutes. come downstairs, and phone
is almost on, well, it looks different. its warm, and i get it to give up the pictures - but it is still rebooting, and flickering.
at least it has a short, so it will self-heat to dry. time to fix the water heater.
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I think we are going to need a few days wading in six mile run. there is so much debri, and trees across the main channel
that this is going to happen again. probably be a good thing to get the scouts to pick up the recycling, and other
interesting items (saw a kid's basketball hoop - very apropos) - maybe if we get a good string of hot days in july.
anyway, there is 6 inches of water on the low side approach to the concrete bridge. ride it, don't choke!
