Last week I took my annual bike ride through the Skokomish Valley. It was a perfect ride on a perfect day and not just because it was my birthday.
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A Birthday Bike Ride
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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River View
Skokomish River
Before I left home this morning I already knew that the National Weather Service had canceled its flood warning for the Skokomish River. Yesterday’s storm, which dumped more than 2.5 inches of rain on the Skokomish River watershed, caused the river to rise but left it just under the 16-foot flood stage. While I didn’t see any flooding—except for a few spots where the high-water signs on the Skokomish Valley Road are permanently posted—my day trip took me past one of my favorite spots along the river.
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Mud Bay Blog 