It looks like the worst of the high river flows is over. The Bureau of Reclamation, which releases the water into our river through a dam, just this year started using an alternate route for at least a third of it, routing it through a tunnel and series of reservoirs and canal to release the water at the mouth of our canyon. This avoids flooding the areas that were temporarily repaired following the devastating floods, but not adequately enough for high water. And it allows time for planning of a permanent highway along the river, and any modifications to the river channel that might make it work better in a flood.

That is all going to take several years, so we will have a couple more springs of worry for those folks in the fragile areas. We are in good shape here, but have noticed a couple of weak spots in our riverbank where it looks okay, but the dirt is hollowed out inside the bank, so all that is holding it up is tree and bush roots. I will probably have to shell out another $3000 or so in the fall to try to do something about that.

The county has talked about reinforcing the riverbanks around their bridges, including ours. This would involve quite a bit of work digging down in the river channel and placing rocks. It would be nice to know if they are going to do that, since it would solve some of our bank problems, but they don't like to forewarn us of their plans. Maybe I'll see them working on other bridges before ours and be prepared.


I've found several bits of this shag carpet along the river, caught in the flood debris, the remnant of someone's pride and joy at some time. I picture them, back in the 1970s (I hope it's not still on the market), admiring the newly-carpeted living room in their cabin. "It really brightens up the room, and looks like nature!" exclaims the Mrs. "Linoleum would have been just fine, and I hate green," mutters the Mr.