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| Hiking | 1.60 Miles |
380 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.60 Miles | | | |
| 380 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I didn't want Sue to get too used to me staying home on weekends and working in the yard - so I went fishing on the Siletz on Sunday. It was a stormy day so Sue wouldn't have expected me to work in the yard anyway - even though I've told her that I'd rather work in the yard in bad weather and save the good weather for more pleasant activities. The Siletz was low and clear. In the deeper pools it was an icy blue color. I got a late start so didn't arrive at the river until 8:30 am. This time instead of hiking down the gorge I went "road fishing". There's several miles where the river runs close to the road so I drove along the river looking for a good hole, stopped when I found one and fished for an hour. Then back to the car for a hot cup of coffee and drive on to the next hole. Not a bad way to go when the weather is cold and rainy. But the fish weren't cooperating even though I had vowed to release any I caught - We've got two steel head in the freezer so don't need any more.
Around noon I decided to go explore the upper end of the North Fork of the Siletz. Fishing
isn't allowed on that part of the river but there is an old growth forest called "Valley of the Giants" on public land with some hiking trails. It was about 16 miles further up in the mountains. It was snowing there with about 3 inches on the ground. About a mile down the road from there I passed some rough looking good ole boys coming out in two beat up old pickup trucks. One truck was an old Ford pickup with lots of dents and rust, no front grill and the hood tied down with rope. You've probably seen cars with the decal letters across the top of the windshield stating the brand of car - well this guy had "Peace of Sh**" across the top of his wind shield. (Yes, that's the way he spelled piece). Now I'm sure these guys were friendly enough but I couldn't help but start thinking again about getting a concealed weapon permit for the old 357 magnum Sue's dad gave me "for protection when you go out in the woods by yourself". When I got to the trail head, there was no one else around so I quickly forgot about the gun thing, I went for a hike - left my fishing waders and wading boots on because it was so wet. It's a good thing there was no one else there because I looked pretty strange. The woods were very silent with the falling snow. The trees were magnificent - 5 to 7 feet in diameter and very tall. The forest floor was covered with green ferns and moss. Logs laying on the forest floor had new trees sprouting from them along their full length. I'd seen this with red woods but didn't know other trees did that. I'm not sure what kind of trees these were - I expected them to be Douglas Fir but the needles seemed much shorter. It was a beautiful place - but sad to think that most of that area used to have this type of forest and now it was only left in a small 51 acre patch. All the rest has been clear cut at some time in the past and is still being clear cut as soon as the new trees reach about 6 inches or more in diameter.
After a two mile hike I headed back down river and "road fished" for another hour before heading for home. No fish but a pleasant relaxing day in a beautiful place. When I got home Sue wanted to know how I could stand to be outdoors all day in such nasty weather. I wasn't sure how to respond - to me it had been a beautiful day. |
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