Day 3


July 9th – Monday

I was woken up at 5:40 a.m. today. It was an early one. After the whole morning routine we set off to see Janette Burkharet the water shed planner. We had a very long drive over to White Salmon due to navigational issues. It took about forever and a day to get to Janette.

When we got there it was worth it. She shared facts and pictures of the Condit Dam removal. It was the largest Dam removal in the United States until another Dam beat it a couple of months after the removal started. It was extremely interesting. They decided to remove it due to all the maintenance and code expenses. Also, I later found out there was a lot of political issues and the river was claimed as having ecological importance.

We went on multiple trips today; Husum falls, Janette’s restoration site and Underwood. The falls were beautiful and Janette shared that the water was about 48 degrees year round and the river serves as a safe haven for the fish salmon and pacific lamprey migrating.

We ventured to the Condit Dam site and stood on atop of the broken up Dam. We looked out to the Dam area and Janette pained a very vivid picture with the water reserve and the way the sediment was dispersed. It was a bit of a baby hike but we all powered through.

After, had some lunch and toured Janette’s restoration site. It was very sad that so many of the plants died. They planted various native plants and some were doing great and others weren’t. My favorite was the golden rod, it was beautiful.

Finally, the group went back to camp, ate dinner, worked on blogs, and had our sharing circle. The sharing circle is always my favorite. Everyone has the opportunity to be heard and acknowledged, it brings everyone closer.

We ended the night with a shower. You don’t understand how happy we all are after a shower. J

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Today was about a 7.5 on coolness, just because we were in the car forever.

-       Des

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