Thursday, we are up at 5:00 and out of the CG by 6:30, getting to the river by 7:00. The water flow was 800 CFM, but over the weekend they are planning to raise it to 4600 CFM, so we are trying to take a picture everyday to see how the level changes. Nan our boss stopped down on Thursday to chat for a while and drop off scheduled flow rates for the river, and papers all us campers have to sign. We are both a little anxious to see how it flow release effects the rafters, from what we understand, not much, it just makes for a faster trip down the river. Back home and a lazy day, the first day after work we are pretty much useless. Oh, no what's that? A text from Nan, we now have Friday off and work Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, a schedule change, but that's what it will be set to from here on out. Oh well, I guess we can deal with that, dinner and off to bed early for all of us.
Friday, 5-30, we really don't want to do too much, so we headed out to the Lodge for breakfast, pretty good, but expensive, then down to the river for some pictures, to the office in Dutch John to drop off the signed paper, and a stop at a couple of the overlooks to check out the river/dam and reservoir. Back home, a walk for Rudy, then Brad and I do some reading and just enjoy the day. About 3:00 we head to the visitors center to make a few phone calls, but after about 5 min. of talking to Dad a thunderstorm blows in. Now we really don't get much, if any rain from these storms, but about 80% of the trees by the visitors center have already been struck by lightening, and I don't want to be in the midst of them if it happens again, so off we go, back to the RV. A quick dinner and again, off to bed by 10:00
Saturday we are back to getting up at 5:00 and out the door by 6:30, but we made it. A beautiful day, but the river was much slower that we had expected, so it made for a long day. I hiked up and down the parking lot, collecting any litter, but surprisingly enough, there was none, but it is a nice little walk for me. I close up at 1:00 and while I am closing our the register, here come 4 car loads of people, oh well, not much I can do now. We head home, walk Rudy then plan our time for the evening. They are having a picnic tonight for all the volunteers and I am making a cheesy potato casserole. We have some time to kill, so Brad naps and I actually laid down and rested for a while, then it's time to get up and get some things done. We cleaned up the RV, ran the sweeper and then I started the potatoes. The picnic is to start at 6:00, but now the wind is blowing and the temperature is dropping (ha ha, it's pretty chilly at 68 degrees when there is no humidity). But it didn't take long, the crowd started to show up, and the picnic is on. The Forest service brought burgers, hot dogs and sausages and all the fixin's you might need for them, while everybody else brought a covered dish to share. Not a bad meal, potatoes, coleslaw, fruit salad and just about any dessert you could want, yummy. About 8:30 people started to leave, Brad and I hung out until about 9:00, then headed in, another early day tomorrow. There were a couple of youngsters (20 year olds) that showed up about 8:00 and they stayed until about 10:00. so all in all, it was a nice night.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are all work days, so it was early mornings and early to bed, with an afternoon nap for Brad each day. We were both surprised when Monday and Tuesday were busier than the weekend, but we guess the vacations are starting and the guided fishing trip business is picking up. It really helps make the days go a little faster. We did however manage to see a wolf on our way home, he ran across the road in front of us, and then we watched him for a little, while he walked down in the woods. Monday there were 2 guys getting ready for a 4 night trip down the river, so they dropped their boat off about 8:00 and headed out to the pull out spot, about a 3.5 hour round trip drive. About 10:00, Brad noticed that the stuff in the boat was starting to float and the boat was slowly taking on water, so when they got back I sent them down to talk to Brad, before they made the long walk down and discovered they couldn't go. But as it was, they put the boat plug in, bailed her out and headed on their way. Tuesday morning Brad is walking Rudy at 0 dark 30, and I'm getting ready to shower when the howling starts. It sounded like a pack of wolves and that they were right behind the camper, out the door I go, to find nothing, but Rudy dragging Brad back to the RV. I guess Rudy didn't like the sounds of it any more they we did, then back inside, finish getting ready for work, with a little excitement in our day. Monday and Tuesday we had a group of about 35 college kids, from the Colorado School of Mines, going down the river on a guided tour. Monday the class was pretty docile, but Tuesday's was much rowdier and ready to have some fun (we felt sorry for the guides). Its funny we both learn something new every day, one note to keep in mind, if you hire a shuttle service for your car and it has a manual transmission, please ensure they have drivers that can drive a manual transmission (I'm not sure that one of the cars made it to the pull out site). A little cleaning in the evenings, a load or two a laundry, some jigsaw puzzle pieces put together, and mostly quiet evenings, light meals and off to bed about 10:00....we are slowly getting into a routine.
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| Levels before opening of the Dam |
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| Water Level Rising |
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Higher Yet
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| Last of this rising |
The water level rose for three day, and was to stay at this level for 14 days. Well the word came out, Flow to increase from 4600, where it is today, to 8600 by Monday....We'll have to see the difference.
Below is a little group of some more scenery pictures and some of the animals that are around.
Thanks for visiting,
Diane and Brad
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