End of the hike---Whiskey Bend
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Category Archives: Other Local Places
Elwha River Trip
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Canoe at High Tide
Tied up at high tide
Last night was a perfect summer evening at Treasure Island. Perfect for everything but canoeing. Due to its minimal keel, my 15-foot Coleman Outfitter gets blown sideways by any wind exceeding about 5 knots. So after a brief battle against a stiff breeze, I brought the canoe back in and settled for a picture of a moored canoe instead (see photo). At 15.5 feet, the tide was one of the higher tides for August. The picture was taken a few minutes before high tide.
Our Gray Swam Away
An emaciated juvenile gray whale died this week on a beach at Erlands Point in Dyes Inlet. The sad story was reported in the Kitsap Sun, which mentioned that the dead whale was examined by several marine biologists. In contrast a full-grown gray whale that spent part of a summer off the north end of Treasure Island about 15 years ago failed to attract any attention from the scientific community or the media.
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Cleaning Up the Canyon
South Fork Skokomish River from High Steel Bridge
The canyon spanned by the High Steel Bridge in the southeast portion of the Olympic National Forest is a regional scenic treasure. The bridge itself became a national historic place in 1982. Sadly, over the years the no littering signs have been ignored by enough thoughtless visitors to make the canyon a scenic dump. The most recent eyesore—a couple of traffic signs are visible in the shallow water of the South Fork of the Skokomish River just downstream of the bridge (see photo).
This is a short initial post to identify what will be a difficult problem to solve: cleaning up the canyon. It’s more than 400 feet from the bridge deck to the bottom and the canyon walls are too steep and slippery for ordinary climbing. I’m also pledging to do whatever I can to assist in removing the rubbish. So far that consists of writing this post and contacting the Hood Canal Ranger District to urge them to get involved. At this point we are at the phone call and email stage. More from them later, I hope.
There’s one more photo after the jump as evidence that something needs to be done.
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Silverdale Needs a Tower
View of Silverdale from the east
Silverdale added a Trader Joe’s this month and recently dedicated the new Haselwood Family YMCA. If the Citizens United for Silverdale gathers enough signatures, there will be a vote on cityhood next year. But even with all the progress there’s something the undisputed retail center of Kitsap County lacks that would really put it on the map. Silverdale needs a tower.
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World’s Shortest Culvert?
No washouts expected here
I don’t know if the culvert shown in the photo is the world’s shortest, but it has to be a contender for the title. Roughly 14 inches in diameter and a bit over 3 feet in length, the corrugated metal pipe is only about 3 times as long as it is wide. The mini walkway the culvert supports provides a year-round dry crossing of the drainage ditch that lines Beck Road in Mason County near Belfair State Park. There’s a path through the greenbelt behind it to the property owner’s home.
I took the photo near the end of today’s bike ride after dodging rain showers all afternoon. If I had waited around, I might have seen the culvert in action as heavier rain moved in later and doused the area.
Duck Season
Only a month and a half until the big race
Always take your camera with you when you go to Silverdale. That’s my motto and my advice to Kitsap bloggers whose backlog is getting a bit thin. Although I posted an entry titled Duck Time in 2009, a sighting of Big Yellow this morning in Silverdale was worth a new photo. Looking cool and rested, the mascot for the Great Kitsap Duck Race was securely tethered outside Kitsap Bank on Silverdale Way. Even if we have a repeat of Monday’s high winds, the cement blocks should keep the giant duck from getting airborne.
The Great Kitsap Duck Race is scheduled for Sunday, July 31, 2011, the final event in the Whaling Days Festival. Sponsored by the Silverdale Rotary Club and about 30 other businesses and organizations, the race raises money for civic groups in the community. “Duck Season” kicked off on June 2nd this year to allow plenty of time for the thousands of available duck tickets to be sold. I have never seen the race live, but I always get a “quack pack”—a flock of five ducks—to represent me in the race. Maybe this will be the year one of my ducks splashes into the money.
Pheasant Product
A bumper crop
In 2009 I posted an entry about the pheasant pen shown in the photo. One of the birds’ major activities while they are held in captivity should be obvious. During their two weeks in the pen before release as upland game birds, clearly they do their best to fertilize every square inch of its floor. I’m glad my lawn doesn’t grow like that.
I wasn’t sure what to title this post. Although I favor clarity, I didn’t want to use the expletive sh-t in the title. Manure works when it follows steer, horse, cow, and even chicken, but doesn’t sound right when pheasant is the modifier. Other possibilities for the second word are excrement, dung, compost, and fertilizer. Fertilizer seems like the best choice even if it implies a product that might be commercially available. Maybe it should be.
Bungalow Brown
New top, new paint
Bungalow Brown. That’s the color I used when I recently repainted the picnic table K’s dad made for us about 20 years ago. He died in 1994, but I think if he were still around he would be happy with the job. Sporting a new cedar top and fresh paint (see photo), the old table is ready for the coming summer.
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Scotch Broom Bloom
Yellow hillside along Route 3 near Belfair
This time of year you really notice how prevalent Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) is along Western Washington’s county roads and rural highways (see photo). The invasive species is in full mustard-colored bloom everywhere and lines State Route 3 almost continuously from Bremerton to Belfair. The land bordering Route 3 has been logged extensively. Scotch broom thrives in the resulting sunny open areas.
For a plant with no friends, it’s probably not the best strategy to be so easy to spot. Not that the aggressive shrub is worried—once the roots are established it can be as tough to eradicate as kudzu. I’m just glad I’m not prone to pollen-borne allergies.
Mud Bay Blog 