Unsettled Weather

I get a late start. The weather is unsettled. It's not bad, just unsettled and unsure of what it should do next. I check the weather service - wind with gusts, then a few minutes later, wind, then a few minutes later, wind with gusts. I go when the wind decides to pick a direction.

So, there is some wind and minor gusts, but it is coming down river and not likely to change. There is also a little rain, but I don't care one bit about that as long as it doesn't come with lightning, which it is not.

Last time I came in here, I spent an hour on shore waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. 

At the rock garden

I head up river thinking about what this section might have looked like in 1875 before it was dammed. The "natural" river starts somewhere near a place that I call the Shelf.  The Shelf is a cobble bar that runs bank to bank at a slight angle to the centerline of the river. It's possible that there is some bedrock down there somewhere. I sidle across the river over the Shelf and find the deepest point to be about 4 feet, today. 

I spotted this iron ring bolt with a broken chain link. It's about 18 inches tall. Just to the left of the canoe in the above photo.

I continue up to the rock garden. This is definitely original river level and it lies about a 1/4 mile below the Stevenson Dam. Paddling upstream through the rock garden is water level dependent. If the water is too high, there are no eddies or slow water to use for making headway. If the water is too low, a couple of necessary gaps between boulders disappear with the only remaining opening too fast for me to power through. Today is the latter. I get about halfway up, then turn out of an eddy and catch the current back. 

The sun comes out, the wind is at my back, the day improves.