Bullets and Beer - What Could Go Wrong?

I strive for a post on this site about three times a week.

Often I am an abject failure in this regard.

My excuse du jour is an article I am working on for the local newspaper about an upcoming three-day adventure. I get to walk a 17-mile stretch of a local creek.  The purpose of this is mostly scientific in nature where a bunch of bureaucrats and academic types study stream conditions and then make recommendations for the betterment of society in general.

Kind of like an aquatic version of the United Nations.

I, on the other hand, am going because I really enjoy the sensation of muck and mud oozing through my shoes and getting stuck between my toes.  That, and the very real chance to get bit by a rattlesnake or at the very least, by hordes of aquatic insects.

Last year the trek varied from walking miles on cobble and gravel in vast stretches of hot, dry conditions to wading in ever-deepening pools, uncertain when the bottom might drop out.  And did I mention the occasional crawl through thickets of brush and brambles, loaded with blood-sucking ticks.

If you like poison oak you will enjoy sections of this hike. I itch just thinking about it.

 

But not all was without merit, as much of the area is quite remote and scenic and often with long stretches without an indication of past human presence…except for the abandon heavy-equipment tires the size of a Prius and entire vehicles that apparently took a very wrong turn somewhere along the way.

This stretch of river is almost entirely across private land, but there is frequent public activity in the form of hiking, ATV’s (four-wheelers), shooting, and sometimes trespassing, vandalism, and other damage.

Potential for conflict? Color that orange on the threat board for “hell, yes.”

Wildlife, both under the water and on the surface is a significant area of concern and discussion. When you think that at one time grizzly bears and wolf roamed this area, people want to save what is still here.

At one time, there was even spawning for salmon and steelhead.

But one of the biggest concerns does not even occur within the creek, itself, and that is namely the potential of flooding of a nearby growing community.

Things have changed over the years: in-stream gravel mining has not been done for 14 years and some of the mining areas are being rehabbed and will become county parks.

But some things never change. There are some who insist to enjoying two great American pastimes at the same time:

Drinking beer and shooting high-powered weaponry, as evidenced by littered cans and spent bullet casings.

And then there is that little matter of the Public Trust Doctrine.

Oh, sorry…our time together for today is up.

See you at our next session.